New York prosecutors have unveiled charges against two former employees of the banking giant JPMorgan Chase for the so-called “London Whale” trades that cost the bank more than $6 billion and derailed financial markets worldwide. A Senate probe earlier this year accused JPMorgan Chase of misleading the public, manipulating documents and ignoring warnings from within its own ranks as the losses piled up. On Wednesday, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara announced the first charges to stem from the case.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara: “The defendants deliberately and repeatedly lied about the fair value of billions of dollars in assets on JPMorgan’s books in order to cover up massive losses that mounted month after month at the beginning of 2012. Those lies misled investors, regulators and the public, and they constituted federal crimes. As has already been conceded, this was not a tempest in a teapot, but rather a perfect storm of individual misconduct and inadequate internal controls.”

The two defendants reside in Europe, and it is unclear if they will face extradition.