"Sunday's New York Post page one headline about JPMorgan's fine screamed
"Uncle Scam" with the sub headline "U.S. Robs Bank of $13B."
Wall Street went into a tizzy this weekend with the news that one of the
nation's biggest banks agreed to fork over to the federal government
$13 billion in fines related to its mortgage securities business.
The Post quoted bank analyst Dick Bove of Rafferty Capital as saying the deal "is a basic and fundamental attack on capitalism."
"It is possible that the government is taking away the property of the
JPMorgan shareholders without the shareholders having committed any
crime or having any say in the expropriation of these funds," Bove told the New York Post.
The deal, announced Saturday,
settles civil penalties with the U.S. Justice Department, but doesn't
stop any potential criminal prosecution. The Federal Housing Finance
Agency sued JPMorgan and 17 other banks for faulty mortgage bonds two
years ago.
Wall Street insiders were furious about the deal, noting that 80 percent
of the mortgages being probed were actually acquired from the failing
banks Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns. JPMorgan reportedly took over
the risky portfolio at the request of the U.S. government in the wake of
the 2008-09 financial meltdown.
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If such a bank is willing to part with $13 billion to avoid (even more?) civil liability, wouldn't they be willing to pay $20 million or so to clog up the federal courts with criminal prosecutions and thus reduce those courts' ability to engage in civil actions as well? (See my "Denial of Disservice Attack")
Jim Bell