JPMorgan: We're Being Investigated By DOJ Over Mortgages

[onehandle]

Source: Reuters

JPMorgan Chase said Wednesday it's under federal criminal investigation over its sale of mortgage securities, potentially making the biggest U.S. bank by assets the first large financial institution to face criminal sanctions over securitization practices that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis.

The Justice Department told JPMorgan in May that prosecutors had “preliminarily concluded” that the bank violated civil securities laws related to mortgage securities it packaged and sold from 2005 to 2007, the bank disclosed in a quarterly securities filing. JPMorgan has already been sued over similar practices by Eric Schneiderman, New York attorney general, and has settled similar cases brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large financial groups also have disclosed in securities filings they're under U.S. investigation for their dealings in mortgage securities. Criminal investigations are underway against some banks, according to people familiar with the probes, introducing the possibility that criminal charges against a major financial institution for mortgage-related conduct could be filed -- a potentially surprising development given prosecutors’ and securities regulators’ past statements suggesting that pre-crisis bad behavior didn’t necessarily equate to criminal wrongdoing.

JPMorgan -- once a darling in Washington -- on Wednesday disclosed a raft of expected enforcement actions that have been broadly mentioned by the bank and its chief executive and chairman, Jamie Dimon, but never before in such detail. Once finalized, the enforcement orders may further damage the bank’s already-battered reputation and lead to heightened scrutiny of its practices.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/07/jpmorgan-doj-investigation_n_3721741.html

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Nationalize all banks and financial institutions.

[snappyturtle]

1. Nationalize the banks and get rid of the Federal Reserve. nt

[SleeplessinSoCal]

2. Diversify!

Diversify is what we learned when our Washington Mutual Mortgage wound up with JPMorgan Chase. I'm wondering what Chase did along the way to cause WaMu to be left holding the bag . . .

[hobbit709]

3. About fucking time.

[Elmergantry]

7. Amen NT

[xiamiam]

13. no kidding..criminals and liars..nt

[AnotherMcIntosh]

23. Yea, well, there's a five-year statute of limitations for criminal prosecutions.

Unless an exception applies, such as JP Morgan waiving the statute.

[DJ13]

4. Jail?

[KoKo]

6. LOL's with that Cockroach Infestation...how many of them have been

Exterminated.

JPMorgan will just pay another $200.000 Fine and it will be Done With. This is just Propaganda to make it look like "SOMEONE" will finally be held accountable. But, it's kicking can down the road for publicity...while the fines are laughable.

[tom_kelly]

15. +1

[Moostache]

5. I will bet my life that no one above a regional associate VP of sales goes to jail.

The real crime was that all the illicit "profits" / stolen assets were allowed to be safely moved offshore before the investigators even started SOUNDING like they might put someone on trial...

If the DOJ wants to impress me, they'll cut deals with everyone for forfeiture of assets and reduced prison sentences to get to the top level boardroom criminals...chances of THAT? Probably worse than my chances at the Powerball jackpot (which is REALLY bad since I have no ticket in that drawing anyway!!!

[JDPriestly]

8. Ahhhh. May I assume that some rich people lost money on JP Morgan's sale of securities on these

mortgages? Now the government HAS to do something about that. THAT might be a crime. Cheating homeowners, of course, was just good intentions gone awry.

[Vinnie From Indy]

9. They know they fucked up!

The guys on Wall Street fucked up! They forgot the very important rule of nature - somebody not important has to be sacrificed to the Gods now and again. There has been a growing sentiment in the US that the average Joe gets prosecuted and sent to jail for all manner of crime and the folks on Wall Street steal from millions and simply pay a small fine. The people at the DOJ, the Admin and on Wall Street are not deaf. They read the comments on news stories and hear the late night comedians joke about not prosecuting Wall Street bankers. I am quite confident that the powerful on Wall Street have determined that in order to save their own hides they must throw some bodies to the wolves. It will be poor dumb bastards whose only mistake was being in the middle of the food chain. Those are the guys that will get fed to the wolves.

Never forget that the folks on Wall Street are mobsters. They are the gangsters that the Mafia wishes they could be. Any good wise guy boss always has a cut-out or multiple cut-outs. These are the guys that take the heat if something goes bad. There is no honor in it as they would you believe, but it is exactly what criminal bosses do to insulate themselves from being punished for their crimes. Wall Street is NO different in that regard!!!

In short, the masters of the universe on Wall Street will remain untouched and the DOJ can strut around like they actually prosecute crime on Wall Street. It will be a win-win-lose. Of course the loser will be the middle manager that gets sacrificed to the angry God of public opinion and political ambition.

[cstanleytech]

10. But of course in the end no person will be sent to jail over this and at most

the banks will pay a fine thats probably barely a fraction of 1% compared to how much they profited from said crime.

[benld74]

11. Oh Boo-Effin-hoo!

[Lugal Zaggesi]

12. Wait - banksters being investigated for actual crimes, after crashing a $15 trillion economy?

That can't be right - whatever they do is for the benefit of God and Country.

“This verdict shows that the citizens of this county will not tolerate a continued disrespect and disregard for other people and their property,” said Assistant District Attorney J.R. Vicha. “People who choose to do so will be dealt with seriously and appropriately.”

Said Texas A.D.A. Vicha, discussing Willie Smith Ward, who had attempted to steal a package of meat from the H-E-B grocery store in Waco. An employee approached Ward and asked what he had under his clothing.

Ward said, “I got a knife,” after the ribs fell out from beneath his shirt, the Waco Tribune-Herald reports.

Trying to steal a $35 rack of pork ribs will cost this Texas black man 50 years in prison.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/31/willie-smith-ward-rib-theft_n_3365554.html

Let's see how the banksters make out for stealing $billions.

[KeepItReal]

14. "Who should I make this settlement check out to, Mr. Holder?" - JPM CEO

Am I right, y'all?

[PSPS]

16. I was just going to write, "time to pay Holder his cut."

[sorefeet]

17. No one is above the law in America

BWAAAAAHAAAHAAAA

[mckara]

18. Good News or the Whitewash Begins?

[NorthCarolina]

26. Hasn't the statute of limitations run out for any real criminal charges?

I suspect a whitewash as an attempt to quell public unrest over the Government non-action against Wall Street criminality.

[Wolf Frankula]

19. Somebody at Morgan will Speak (unofficially of course) to Somebody at Moody's

and Standard and Poor. They will threaten to downgrade the US' Credit rating. The SEC will propose a settlement. A nominal fine of a few hundred thousand will be paid, and some middle level goofus will go to a tennis prison. The ratings firms, who assured us that the junk mortgages were AAA, will not downgrade the US Credit ratings. The Big Fish will Swim away and the DOJ will preen itself on actually getting a conviction on the robbery of the millennium.

Wolf

[Lint Head]

20. They will pay a settlement which will be chump change and go on robbing us. S.O.S.

[adirondacker]

21. I can't understand that an institution this corrupt can be chosen to handle NY States money

They are the handlers of NY's unemployment payments, where you claim your weekly benefit, they hold the money for several days and then disperse it into your account.

I'm sure our governor could answer.

[Hubert Flottz]

25. I think they call that, "the Buddy System."

Nobody will go to jail and the fine will be tiny compared to the haul the crooks got away with.

[abelenkpe]

22. Yes!

Nationalize all banks and financial institutions!

Investigation is long overdue.

[Sherman A1]

24. Long overdue

but, better late than never.