Jul.08, 2010, 10:37 AM EDT

July 8 (Bloomberg) -- The head of the Argentine agency dedicated to fighting money laundering asked prosecutors to investigate whether JPMorgan Chase & Co. and three companies manipulated prices of public share offerings, the agency said in a statement.

Jose Sbatella, the head of Argentina’s Financial Information Unit, sought a probe into share sales by Grupo Clarin SA, Banco Patagonia SA and Consultatio SA after receiving testimony from former JPMorgan employee Hernan Arbizu, the statement said.

JPMorgan participated in share sales by the three Buenos Aires-based companies, the statement added.

Arbizu, an Argentine, fled the U.S. in 2008 after being indicted for embezzlement. He has been sued by the bank for allegedly stealing money from a client account and taking confidential information about customers. Arbizu said in an interview in Buenos Aires last year that the charges against him are true and that he didn’t profit from the transactions.

“The complaint has no grounds,” Clarin said by e-mail. “The offerings were made in London and Buenos Aires according to all international norms.”

“We hope this ends quickly to make clear we acted according to the law,” Eduardo Costantini, chairman of Consultatio, said in a phone interview today.

JPMorgan spokesman Brian Marchiony and Banco Patagonia spokeswoman Alejandra Prat declined to comment to Bloomberg.