FBI opens inquiry into JPMorgan Chase $2 billion trading loss

[pinboy3niner]

By Richard A. Serrano and Jim Puzzanghera
May 15, 2012, 10:20 a.m.


WASHINGTON --The FBI has opened a preliminary inquiry into the $2 billion trading loss at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

“We are aware of the matter and are looking into it,” said a Justice Department official who has been briefed on the probe but was not authorized to speak publicly. “This is a preliminary look at what if anything might have taken place.”

The inquiry by the FBI's financial crimes squad in New York is in a “preliminary infancy stage,” the official said Tuesday, and federal law enforcement agents are pursuing the matter “because of the company and the dollar amounts involved here.”

The FBI joins the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission and regulators in Britain in investigating the loss on trades meant to help protect JPMorgan against credit risk. Instead, the complex trades backfired, causing a huge hit to the bank's bottom line and its reputation.

...


http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-jpmorgan-fbi-inquiry-20120515,0,672725.story

Meanwhile, in other news...

JPMorgan's Dimon keeps his chairman job in shareholder vote

By Andrew Tangel
May 15, 2012, 9:01 a.m.

TAMPA, Fla. — Jamie Dimon will keep his jobs as chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Shareholders overwhelmingly voted him back onto the board as well as approving executive compensation packages. Shareholders voted only 40% in favor of a nonbinding proposal to split the jobs of chairman and CEO. Final vote tallies will be filed later with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

...


http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-jpmorgan-dimon-chairman-20120515,0,2674432.story

[Jello Biafra]

1. Like the FBI is going to find anything......yeah, right....n/t

[gratuitous]

2. Come on, now

Let's not get ahead of the game quite yet. We can argue all day about who vaporized $2 billion and how that loss is going to be made up (*cough*Treasury*cough), but the truth of the matter is that JP Morgan Chase is awfully mad about this whole state of affairs, too. So why don't we all just agree that we could have all done better, and promise that we will do better in the future? There's really no need to get all regulatory about this, and surely Jamie Dimon shouldn't be held responsible or start thinking about updating his resume. In fact, I think he's going to need a little something-something to tide him over during this very distressing time, and if you disagree, well, you're just fomenting class warfare, that's all.

So watch yourself, pal. Unless you want everyone thinking you're a socialist.

[Jello Biafra]

6. LOL

I get it.....

[hughee99]

4. If the FBI is looking into it, JP Morgan must already have their "fall-guy" lined up.

If they weren't already sure what they would find, the FBI wouldn't have looked into it at all.

[Romulox]

3. JPMorgan is one of the best managed banks there is; Jamie Dimon is one the smartest bankers we got.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

9. You're right. Who's got the money?

[JDPriestly]

5. Jamie Dimon will keep those jobs for the moment, but . . . . .

somewhere down the line, his management skills will be questioned.

Someone will finally decide that he has passed his prime.

In fact, his "prime" if there ever was one passed long ago. They should all have been fired in 2007 well before the newspapers acknowledged the crash in 2008.

The cheating started, and the die was cast long before 2007.

[Jello Biafra]

7. See, he didn't do it.........lol

http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/15/markets/jpmorgan-shareholder-meeting/index.htm?hpt=hp_t2

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Even as he apologized for a $2 billion trading loss, shareholders approved JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon's $23 million pay package Tuesday at the bank's annual meeting.

The meeting comes just days after the bank disclosed the massive trading loss, an event that led to the departure of its chief investment officer and forced its CEO to repeatedly apologize for the bank's actions.

"This should never have happened. I can't justify it. Unfortunately these mistakes were self inflicted," Dimon told shareholders just after the meeting began.

The $2 billion loss resulted from trades that were originally designed to hedge against risk, but grew in size and complexity, raising questions about whether the bank's actions violated the spirit of the Volcker Rule.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

8. It must be election season.

[FarCenter]

10. The FBI and the CIA should investigate the London offices that were doing the trades

Who were those guys working for?

[bluesbassman]

11. "Preliminary Infancy Stage"? Which is it?

Sounds to me like code for "We ain't found shit!"