THE HILL
 
comment
Print

Scott Brown urges JPMorgan to punish employees involved in botched trade

By Daniel Strauss - 05/18/12 01:53 PM ET

Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) is urging JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon to penalize employees associated with the bank's recent $2 billion trading loss.

"I am writing to you to express my concern with the surprising $2 billion trading loss that JP Morgan recently disclosed," Brown writes in the letter sent Wednesday. "At your shareholding meeting you noted that the mistakes made were 'self-inflicted' and that a loss like this should have never happened. Given these circumstances, I would urge you to impose financial penalties against the responsible parties in your company by conducting a compensation clawback review."

Brown's letter comes as the Senate Banking Committee prepares to hold a hearing on the losses suffered by the bank. The Securities and Exchange Committee and the Justice Department have both opened investigations into the trade.

On Thursday, Dimon said he would testify before the Banking Committee about the trade, which he has called "stupid" and a case of "bad judgment."

In the letter to Dimon, Brown also writes that imposing financial penalties "would be sending a strong signal to your investors, the markets and other Wall Street firms that employees at JPMorgan that take outsized risks in search of short-term profits and at the expense of the long term success of the institution will face financial penalties."

Senate Republicans have been divided over the trading loss. Some, like Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), have called for thorough investigations into the bank and its loss while others, like Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), said the government should not get involved in the loss.

"The CEO had to respond to shareholders. There was no tax money at risk," Chambliss said according to Bloomberg.

Read Brown's letter below:


JP Morgan

Source:
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/228359-sen-scott-brown-urges-jamie-dimon-to-impose-financial-penalties-on-employees-associated-with-2-trading-loss

More Videos »

Floor Action Twitter - Click to follow
More From The Web
bloglogo

More Briefing Room »

More Congress Blog »

More Pundits Blog »

More Twitter Room »

More Hillicon Valley »

More E2-Wire (Energy) »

More Ballot Box »

More On The Money »

More Healthwatch »

More Floor Action »

More Transportation »

More DEFCON Hill »

More Global Affairs »

More In The Know »

More RegWatch »

Get latest news from The Hill direct to your inbox, RSS reader and mobile devices.