When it comes to big banks' bad behavior and the fines they pay to settle "allegations" - which are actually civil charges and which would be criminal charges if applied to any other business or in any parallel universe - things aren't even close to what they seem.
Sure the headlines scream victory, at least monetary victory, for some ripped-off consumers, some hard-charging regulators, and our vaunted (NOT) Justice Department.
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Yesterday JPMorgan was ordered to pay yet another fine to atone for its bad behavior, this time for its role as an enabler of Ponzi scheme master Bernie Madoff. Since 2009, JPMorgan has paid more than $30 billion in fines for various misdeeds. That kind of consistent misbehavior is no accident.
Some might even call it criminal...
Let's address two tragedies today.
The first is how Jamie Dimon & Co. and all the guilty big banks get away with murder.
The second is something I want to share with you because 50 years ago today, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated. It isn't a conspiracy theory about who did it, but a likely theory about what happened and the conspiracy to cover that up.
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JPMorgan has become the poster child for the excesses of Wall Street. So when the government managed to extract a $13 billion settlement from the Too Big to Fail bank over transgressions related to the kind of mortgage-backed securities that helped cause the 2008 financial crisis, it appeared that finally some justice had been done.
But now we find out that JPMorgan still has an ace up its sleeve...
After the debacles of 2008, you'd think that Congress would be looking for more ways to restrict Wall Street's excesses. But for some reason, the House just passed a bill that does the exact opposite - it actually reduces restrictions that were put in place to try to prevent a repeat of the nightmares of 2008.
You won't believe why they thought this would be a good idea...
When you see a Wall Street rogue like JPMorgan get slapped with a $13 billion fine -- the largest ever for a Wall Street Bank -- it sure seems like justice has been done. But it's awfully hard to hurt a Too Big to Fail Bank with fines, no matter how enormous.
Here's something that would really get their attention...
JP MorganChase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) finds itself in front of regulators yet again for misdeeds.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) James Dimon was in Washington yesterday (Thursday) attempting to broker a settlement over the bank's sale of substandard mortgages.
Dimon met with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder about a possible $11 billion settlement in attempts to end criminal and civil charges over JPM's questionable mortgage practices. The U.S. Justice Department said earlier in the week it could file a lawsuit over one of the bank's pending mortgage cases.
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JPMorgan lost billions on a few big derivatives bets. As abstract as this sounds, events like these can threaten your portfolio if you aren’t careful…
What a surprise. The big banks are not playing by the rules -- the rule of law, that is.
News last week revealed that Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) are dirty, dirty, dirty.
The Justice Department announced that it is pursuing a civil lawsuit against Bank of America on the grounds that the bank lied about the quality of the mortgages underlying its mortgage-backed securities (MBS) prior to the housing collapse and financial crisis. The Justice Department is still on a high from its successful civil lawsuit against Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s (NYSE:GS) mid-level toxic securities shill, Fabrice Tourre.
The charges allege out-and-out fraud in Bank of America's soup-to-nuts loan origination and securitization of mortgages. Loans, bad from the start, were knowingly bundled and securitized into trade-able MBS, unbeknownst to buyers.
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Fast food joints pay workers with debit cards whose fees eat up their wages. Guess who cashes in on this scam. Wall Street, of course…
Wall Street's Big Banks are hardly known for their good deeds, but JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) may be the worst of the lot.
For a bank that used to be considered a model citizen among Wall Street institutions, the reversal of reputation has been stunning.
According to The New York Times, at least eight federal agencies are currently investigating JPM. And JPMorgan has more regulatory sanctions against it than any other major U.S. bank.
The damage to JPMorgan's reputation has gotten so bad that it has started to negatively affect the nation's largest bank by assets.
Increased regulatory scrutiny brought on by the scandals has slowed or halted about 60 new projects in JPMorgan's consumer unit, for example. The turmoil also has touched off a series of high-profile departures from the bank.
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Every time an American signs up for food stamps in one of 23 states, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) adds to its revenue stream.
That because JPMorgan Chase contracts to operate as the processor of the Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards in those states. JPMorgan earns a fee for each recipient, ranging from 31 cents to $2.30, depending on the state, every month for the term of the contract.
JPMorgan's seven-year Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, the official name for the federal food stamp program) contract with New York state, for example, brought in more than $126 million of revenue to the big bank.
Florida has paid JPMorgan more than $90 million since 2007. Pennsylvania's seven-year contract exceeded $112 million.
It brings a whole new meaning to "corporate welfare."
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