JPMorgan to pay about $350 mln penalty over trade reporting gaps

[jaxexpat]

8. What the hell is going on here? 1/3 of a billion-dollar fines are being thrown around a lot lately.

Maybe I'm just out of touch, but I thought 1/3 of a billion dollars was a lot of money to pay out for an employee's mistake without that employee(s) mopping the floor of his jail cell for the rest of their lives.

Let me put it this way. If a company can absorb the loss of that kind of money and it's just another day at the bank, that bank is operating totally outside the reach of the laws which regulators are supposed to enforce. This scenario cannot stand indefinitely. There will be an accounting. Islands of obscene prosperity floating on wispy clouds of presumption, illusion and leverage are just not going to work in inclement weather.