
He Blew the Whistle at JPMorgan Chase, Then Came the Blowback - phonon
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/11/business/he-blew-the-whistle-at-jpmorgan-chase-then-came-the-blowback.html
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LeoardoDavinci1
It still amazes me how people have absolutely no problem stealing or screwing
people. I mean, no guilt whatsoever. If you look at the history of how a lot
of people have made their money many of them have accumulated their money by
methods that I would consider theft (or screwing people) even if technically
legal. The robber barons provide rich evidence of what I'm talking about. Even
in current times you can find them, although no longer called such.

~~~
Asbostos
True, but since 2008 at least, I think any level headed rich person would have
to take any promises made by JP Morgan with a grain of salt. They might get
screwed but they might still get the best return on their investment compared
to more honest alternatives. It's still a choice to make in where you put your
money.

Everything I hear about investment banks is that their job is to rip off rich
people. If you don't like that, then use a regular bank and get a regular
couple of percent interest.

~~~
mstade
> If you don't like that, then use a regular bank and get a regular couple of
> percent interest.

It's not that simple when you have retail banks and investment banks all
tangled up.

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elecengin
I think it's important to recognize that all this happened on the fringes of
JPM - this appears to be some private wealth branch office. Small brokerage
outposts like this are generally rife with issues - they have less supervision
(frequently a single broker with their supervisory license) and even in better
supervised conditions brokers spend the majority of time out of the office and
away from the eye of compliance. Compounding the issue is older brokers who
are used to different norms in the business - which explain some of his
complaints on the broker's FINRA record: more aggressive selling (his
suitability complaints), phone orders (the late order entry complaint), etc.
Even though he was vindicated, this type of record is common for brokers in
these roles. I suspect that is why they chose these specific trumped up
charges against him.

I am waiting for the article that tackles the issues at these branch offices
head on.

~~~
leereeves
Is it really limited to the branch offices?

Over the years, JP Morgan has been fined $35 billion.

[http://www.dividend.com/dividend-education/a-brief-
history-o...](http://www.dividend.com/dividend-education/a-brief-history-of-
jp-morgans-massive-fines-jpm/)

And that's just for the cases the government caught and proved.

~~~
JackFr
> And that's just for the cases the government caught and proved.

"caught and proved" can also be read as "alleged and settled". In virtually
every one of those cases, nothing was "proved" in a court of law. Allegations
were made, and JP Morgan agreed to a settlement. They are certainly not
guiltless, but it is far less cut and dried than you make it out to be.

~~~
EdwardDiego
Why would you settle in court when you were innocent? I consider agreeing to a
settlement to be akin to a statement of guilt, but you don't? Why not?

~~~
nickff
The fights are often more expensive than the settlements, and these
settlements have gone from a rare black mark to being a cost of doing
business.[1]

Similar discussions are common in the criminal law, and it is well-known that
a large number of people plead guilty to crimes they did not commit; people do
this because the costs to themselves and to their families are much higher if
they fight the charges than if they just plead guilty.

[1]
[http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/802ae15c-9b50-11e3-946b-00144feab7...](http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/802ae15c-9b50-11e3-946b-00144feab7de.html#axzz3tzmemQP4)

~~~
throwaway2048
lawyers fees dont cost billions (yet)

~~~
JackFr
You'd be surprised: [http://www.thewire.com/business/2014/04/heres-how-much-
ameri...](http://www.thewire.com/business/2014/04/heres-how-much-americas-
biggest-banks-spent-on-legal-bills-this-quarter/360773/)

~~~
leereeves
Those numbers include settlements.

> This quarter, some banks paid out so much in litigation fees — including
> billable hours, court costs, and settlement payouts

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jstoiko
> That may mean a big payday for Mr. Burris. If the S.E.C. deems he gave it
> “original information” the leads to a successful enforcement action, he ...
> would be entitled to a bounty of ... $20 million to $60 million.

I wasn't aware the S.E.C. had a bounty program in place. That's quite the
amount, probably more than he could have made in a lifetime at JP Morgan.

~~~
d_t_w
The IRS have something similar, Bradley Birkenfeld received more than $100M
when he blew the whistle against UBS.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Birkenfeld](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Birkenfeld)

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JustSomeNobody
"Then Mr. Burris’s lawyer asked — twice — whether “someone at JPMorgan” had
written them. Ms. Kazmi testified, “absolutely not.”"

...

"And, with respect to Ms. Kazmi’s testimony that no one at JPMorgan had
drafted the letters, she “answered truthfully based on what she knew — she did
not realize that anyone had provided the customer with the courtesy of typing
up a verbal complaint or issue,” Ms. Wexler said."

Absolutely is a definitive. It means you DO know.

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ionised
The capacity and willingness of financial institutions to completely fuck
everyone over repeatedly and consistently must be a universal constant at this
point.

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mirimir
It is wonderful when honest people are vindicated.

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wsha
I was hoping for a nice outrage inducing story, but this one left too much
ambiguity about who was really at fault for me.

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NotSammyHagar
If you see this as ambiguous, then you are either seriously impaired or
perhaps working for jpmorgan. After he quit and filed a complaint against
jpmorgn, jpmorgan created three false complaints against the former employee.
Then basically lied about it. They are about to pay a $200 million fine for
what he alleged they were doing. jpmorgan is all wrong here.

~~~
firloop
Your comment would be much nicer without the first sentence.

