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JPMorgan Ignored Scads of Red Flags

Jamie Dimon on hot seat as shareholders meet today

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted May 15, 2012 7:20 AM CDT | Updated May 15, 2012 7:53 AM CDT

(Newser) – There is likely some hell yet to be paid at JPMorgan after the bank lost $2 billion on bets that were supposed to be hedges. The firm's shareholders are meeting today, and many want to knock CEO Jamie Dimon out of the chairman post, Reuters reports—including the California Public Employee Retirement Fund, the largest pension fund in America. The bank, meanwhile, is considering clawing back incentive pay to ousted Chief Investment Officer Ina Drew, Bloomberg reports.

Any ire directed at Dimon and Drew would be well founded, former employees tell the New York Times, because both ignored copious warnings about risky trading activity. "There was a lopsided situation, between really risky positions and relatively weaker risk managers," one former trader says. When the Investment unit's internal risk officer objected to trades from European chief Achilles Macris, for instance, Macris simply brought in a more agreeable risk officer. The ex-employees say the appetite for such risk went all the way to the top, but the bank insists it was confined to Drew's unit.

People arrive at JPMorgan Chase headquarters in New York Monday, May 14, 2012.
People arrive at JPMorgan Chase headquarters in New York Monday, May 14, 2012.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
In this Oct. 27, 2009 file photo, James Dimon, chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase & Co., speaks in New York.
In this Oct. 27, 2009 file photo, James Dimon, chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase & Co., speaks in New York.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 22 comments
slammer
May 15, 2012 3:02 PM CDT
what would you expect of them! money to them is just so much paper!
b1izzard
May 15, 2012 2:07 PM CDT
What does this have to do with the Prez? Why is he even commenting unless they find a crime? It is not criminal to make bad investments. He has his stockholders to answer to, not the rest of us. If his customers and stockholders want to get rid of Diaman, fine. If the company goes under, that is fine too, although they still showed a profit overall. But with Obama, for any bank, put them in jail if they dare to make a profit, put them in jail if they don't. He is just drumming up more hatred. This is a non-story unless your millions are the ones getting lost here.
boxcar
May 15, 2012 12:21 PM CDT
Go back to Bush SEC removing the 1937 Uptick Rule on 7/7/7, thats when 2 of Bear Stearns major hedge funds in housing collapsed, went belly up- B.S went bankrupt w/in the year and JPM absorbed the remains of BS spring '08 for $2/share, but share holder lawsuit forced JPM to pony up $10/share, which left JPM holding the bag on all those bad bets Bear Stearns had made- This is part of that problem, where the CEO is trying to divest JPM of all the "Toxic Assets" it had been saddled with- actually a good cover for JPM, trying to get out from under other's wrongdoings- tried to help stave off collapse of US financial system PS- No one even talks about reinstating the 1937 Uptick Rule- why? There's money to be made shorting everything into the DITCH when the rest of the Great Recession comes ashore in 2013
 

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