J.P. Morgan: "Bitcoin is a scam."
Meanwhile: Since Jamie Diamond has been CEO, J.P Morgan has paid approximately $39B in fines and penalties. I made a list 👇
2008: $153 million Reason: Misleading investors by recommending and selling complex investment vehicles (collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs) while betting against them.
2008: $229 million Reason: Rigging the municipal bond bidding market, defrauding taxpayers in over 30 states through anticompetitive practices.
2011: $56 million Reason: Wrongful foreclosures on homes, including evicting individuals not in violation of eviction criteria.
2012: $25 billion (J.P. Morgan’s share: ~$5 billion) Reason: Part of a $25 billion settlement with five major mortgage servicers for “robo-signing” affidavits, deceptive loan modification practices, and improper foreclosure documentation. J.P. Morgan’s specific share was approximately $5 billion.
2013: $13 billion Reason: Misleading investors in the packaging, marketing, and sale of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) by J.P. Morgan, Bear Stearns, and Washington Mutual (acquired in 2008) from 2005–2008, contributing to the financial crisis. Includes $4 billion for homeowner relief and $9 billion in fines.
2013: $920 million Reason: “London Whale” scandal involving massive trading losses due to mismanagement of derivative trades and falsifying bank records to conceal losses.
2013: $80 million Reason: Violations related to credit card practices, including unfair billing and deceptive collection practices.
2013: $4.5 billion Reason: Settlement with 21 institutional investors for losses from mortgage-backed securities sold between 2005–2008, tied to misleading information about the quality of the underlying mortgages.
2014: $2.511 billion Reason: Violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) for failing to report suspicious activity related to Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. Includes:$1.7 billion (U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York)
$350 million (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency)
$461 million (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, FinCEN, satisfied by the $1.7 billion payment).
2014: $1.346 billion Reason: Currency manipulation and collusion with other banks, involving plans to manipulate foreign exchange markets. Includes:$996 million (U.S. and U.K. regulators)
$350 million (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency).
2014: $5.1 billion Reason: Settlement with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) for misleading Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac about $33 billion in bad mortgages sold by J.P. Morgan, Bear Stearns, and Washington Mutual. Includes $4 billion for infractions and $1.1 billion to Fannie and Freddie.
2020: $920 million Reason: Market manipulation through “spoofing” in precious metals and U.S. Treasuries markets from 2008–2016, involving fraudulent trading practices. Includes:$436.4 million in fines
$311.7 million in restitution
$172 million in disgorgement.
2021: $200 million Reason: Record-keeping lapses, failing to maintain proper documentation as required by regulators.
2023: $4 million Reason: Deletion of 47 million emails required for regulatory oversight, impacting at least 12 securities investigations.
2023: $290 million Reason: Settlement with victims of Jeffrey Epstein for the bank’s role in facilitating his activities by maintaining his accounts despite red flags.
2024: $348.2 million Reason: Inadequate trade surveillance program, failing to monitor billions of trades across 30 global trading venues from 2014–2023. Includes:$250 million (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency)
$98.2 million (Federal Reserve).
2024: $100 million (net, after credits) Reason: Failure to capture billions of dollars in trade surveillance data from 2014–2021, violating Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulations. Total penalty of $200 million, with $100 million credited from prior OCC and Federal Reserve payments.
2024: $151 million Reason: Multiple violations, including misleading disclosures, breach of fiduciary duty, prohibited joint transactions, and recommending higher-cost mutual funds over cheaper ETFs (Clone Mutual Funds) from 2020–2022. Includes:$90 million voluntary payment to 1,500 Conduit investors
$10 million civil penalty
$15.2 million repaid to impacted customers
$45 million for undisclosed financial incentives in the Portfolio Management Program (2017–2024).
2024: $3 million Reason: Reporting inaccuracies in systemwide reporting and supervisory oversights, misreporting approximately 820,000 positions short of 77 billion shares from 2008–2024, per FINRA.
