JPMorgan Chase, a major lender to Lehman Brothers before it collapsed, agreed to settle CFTC charges that it had mishandled customer segregated funds at Lehman Brothers. The CFTC said that for about 22 months, ending with Lehman's bankruptcy in September 2008, JPMorgan had improperly extended intra-day credit to Lehman Brothers based in part on customers' segregated funds that Lehman had deposited at the bank.  JPMorgan also was charged with violating CFTC rules by refusing to release customers' segregated funds for nearly 2 weeks after Lehman's bankruptcy. JPMorgan issued a statement acknowledging that it had "mistakenly factored the balance in the account into a daily calculation of (Lehman) assets to determine the amount of credit the firm was willing to extend to (Lehman)."  The statement, however, reiterated that "no customer funds were ever used to satisfy any (Lehman) debt to JPMorgan, nor were any funds in these accounts lost." That last comment was intended to relate to the issues pertaining to MF Global - more on that, below. JPMorgan also served as a clearing bank for Lehman Brothers - a particularly important role when a company is under duress.  In the case of Lehman Brothers, JPMorgan grew nervous as questions about Lehman’s capital and real estate holdings mounted in the late summer and fall of 2008. The bank asked Lehman to post more than $8 billion in collateral to continue clearing its trades, a condition that if not met might have expedited Lehman’s collapse. On the other side, those collateral calls - issued in the week before the firm collapsed - drained Lehman of money it could have used to stay afloat. And that money is the subject of a 2010 lawsuit that Lehman’s estate has filed against JPMorgan that accuses the bank of hastening its demise. CFTC Sanction. The CFTC fine, which JPMorgan agreed to pay, is $20 million.  The CFTC's order further requires JPMorgan to implement reforms to ensure the proper handling of customer segregated funds in the future and to release customer funds upon notice and instruction from the CFTC. The action comes as the CFTC and other regulators continue to probe what happened to segregated customer funds in the October 2011 collapse of MF Global, a commodity trading firm that also did business with JPMorgan. Parallels to MF Global. In some ways, the CFTC's case echoes MF Global, which is the biggest financial collapse since Lehman. In the case of MF Global, JPMorgan received money belonging to the brokerage firm’s customers, who are still out $1.6 billion. The money vanished in the final week before the firm went under and its disappearance is the subject of a federal investigation. Unlike the MF Global fiasco, however, customer money never went missing from Lehman. JPMorgan is not accused of any wrongdoing in the MF Global case. In addition to being an investment bank, JPMorgan and BNY Mellon are the 2 big institutions that process transactions for most other Wall Street firms. As a result, JPMorgan is often at the center of financial maelstroms. So-called clearing banks have a great deal of leverage over the firms they serve, because they play central roles in their financial solvency. Some of MF Global former clients who lost money in the firm's collapse have been angry at JPMorgan over its role in the firm's final days.  Speaking about the fine in the Lehman case, an attorney who represents many jilted former MF Global clients, said in an e-mail, that "[the payment]is yet another data point in JPMorgan's systematic disregard for the law and for the safety of client assets." However, JPMorgan notes that in this latest settlement with regulators. there is no mention to the effect that the bank "intentionally violated the Commodity Exchange Act or CFTC regulations."  And, JPMorgan has consistently denied acting inappropriately in the MF Global case. For further details, go to:   [CNBC, 4/4/12] and [Dealbook, 4/4/12].