As Senators Roast JPMorgan Chase, Are The Winds Shifting for Diamond Jamie?

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http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/richard-eskow/48574/as-senators-roast-jpmorgan-chase-are-the-winds-shifting-for-diamond-jamie

As Senators Roast JPMorgan Chase, Are The Winds Shifting for Diamond Jamie?
by Richard Eskow | March 16, 2013 - 10:01am

Forgive us if we begin our discussion of the Senate Subcommittee for Investigation's JPMorgan Chase hearing with a small victory lap, but as they say down South, "It ain't braggin' if it's true." We've been saying for years that JPMorgan Chase is fundamentally a criminal enterprise, that "Obama's favorite banker" Jamie Dimon is a fraud, and that "America's best bank" is a nest of venality and criminality. Although we value civility as much as the next guy, we've been forced to suggest that this bank is the "Scandal of Our Time," a leading contender for "Worst Corporate Outlaw of the Year."

We were also forced, civility or no, to suggest that JPM's relationship with Syracuse University is corrupting our young people, and that the most generous interpretation of Dimon's own tenure is that he is so profoundly incompetent as an executive that "Jamie Didn't Know." We also noted that Jamie did know that the London Whale scheme had cost his bank billions, even as he told investors on a phone call that it was just a "tempest in a teapot."

If that's not prima facie evidence of criminal stock fraud, conducted by The Man himself, it's hard to know what is.

JPMorgan Chase was deeply involved in the Facebook IPO fiasco, which reeks of ethical lapses (and possibly worse). According to a whistleblower, it also had evidence regarding Bernie Madoff's shenanigans, but kept on serving as his bank. Three years ago we ran the numbers and found that JPM had 44 percent of the derivatives market. Today's it's undoubtedly more.