US Virgin Islands fires attorney general in Epstein cases
The governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands has fired the attorney general of the U.S. territory who pursued various cases against disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, including a lengthy legal fight that resulted in a $105 million settlement. The removal of Denise George comes just days after she filed a lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase in New York and accused the company of helping Epstein finance the illegal exploitation of women and children in the U.S. Virgin Islands and beyond. Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. did not provide a reason for relieving George of her duties in a statement Sunday, saying only that she would be replaced by Assistant Attorney General Carol Thomas-Jacobs.
news.yahoo.comUS Virgin Islands governor ousts attorney general after she sued JPMorgan Chase and accused the bank of covering up Jeffrey Epstein's crimes
The lawsuit Denise George filed alleged JPMorgan "knowingly facilitated" and "financially benefitted" from Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking scheme.
news.yahoo.comJamie Dimon says inflation eroding consumer wealth may cause recession next year
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said that inflation could tip the U.S. economy into recession next year. While consumers and companies are currently in good shape, that may not last much longer, Dimon said Tuesday on CNBC's "Squawk Box." "Inflation is eroding everything I just said, and that trillion and a half dollars will run out sometime mid year next year," Dimon said. It "may very well derail the economy and cause a mild or hard recession that people worry about." Dimon, 66, has led the New York-based bank since 2006.
cnbc.comJPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon: 'Why can't we get it through our thick skulls?' America boosting oil and gas production is 'not against' climate change
"Because of high oil and gas prices, the world is turning back on their coal plants. It is dirtier," Jamie Dimon said Tuesday, according to Yahoo.
news.yahoo.comUkraine will pursue war-crimes charges against leaders of JPMorgan Chase, Citi, and HSBC over Russia financing, Zelenskyy's economic advisor says
Oleg Ustenko told CNBC that Ukraine's justice and security services were gathering data on Western banks he says are financing the Russian state.
news.yahoo.comJan 6. hearing: Former Fox News editor Chris Stirewalt defends election night call for Arizona
Appearing at Monday's House select committee hearing on the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, former Fox News politics editor Chris Stirewalt defended the network's decision to announce that Joe Biden was projected to win in Arizona on election night in 2020. Stirewalt also told committee members, "You're better off to play the Powerball" than for the results to have changed after Biden had been projected the winner nationwide on Nov. 7, 2020.
news.yahoo.comJPMorgan employees describe growing 'paranoia' as the company tracks their office attendance, calls, calendars, and more — with one worker even installing a 'mouse jiggler' to evade 'Big Brother'
More than half a dozen employees at America's largest bank tell Insider why the firm's surveillance leaves them feeling fearful and untrusted.
news.yahoo.comWeak 0.3% US October sales gain spreads some holiday unease
NEW YORK – Retail sales in the U.S. grew a sluggish 0.3% in October, even as retailers offered early holiday discounts online and in stores. Economists had expected sales to rise 0.5%, already a significant tail off from September's gain of 1.6%. Sales rose at home and garden stores, electronics and appliance stores, and online retailers. Nationwide, spending fell to 7.4% below a year ago, JPMorgan said, a drop of about 2.5 percentage points from two weeks earlier. Yet at clothing stores and sporting good shops, sales fell more than 4%.
'More people may die': Biden urges Trump to aid transition
“More people may die if we don’t coordinate,” Biden told reporters during a news conference in Wilmington, Delaware. The Trump administration is working on its own distribution plan, while Biden’s chief of staff indicated his transition team will proceed with their own planning separately because of the obstruction. Last week, a larger group of Republicans in Congress called on the Trump administration to allow Biden to begin receiving national security briefings. Since defeating Trump, Biden has devoted most of his public remarks to encouraging Americans to wear masks and embrace social distancing measures. But on whether Biden should receive coronavirus briefings, many of Trump's allies on Capitol Hill remained dug in.
Bank profits remain resilient despite lingering pandemic
They set aside, yet again, tens of billions of dollars to cover additional potentially bad loans. Collectively the five biggest banks put aside $34.62 billion to cover bad loans just in the second quarter. JPMorgan set aside $611 million to cover potentially bad loans in the third quarter, a fraction of the $10.47 billion the bank set aside to cover bad loans in the second quarter. On Wednesday, Bank of America said it set aside $1.4 billion to cover potentially bad loans, far less than the $5.1 billion it set aside three months earlier. Most of the worry seems to reflect investors' uncertainty about whether banks will have to set aside additional billions in the future.
Bank of America profit falls 15.6% in third quarter
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Consumer banking giant Bank of America says third-quarter profit declined 15.6% from a year earlier, but saw less need to put aside money to cover potentially bad loans, citing improvements in the U.S. economy. The North Carolina-based bank said Wednesday that it earned a profit of $4.88 billion, or 51 cents per share, down from a profit of $5.78 billion, or 56 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. BofA had $1.4 billion in loan-loss reserves in the third quarter, down from the $5.1 billion it set aside in the second quarter. BofA’s loan-loss reserves were higher than JPMorgan's, which only set aside $611 million in the quarter, but less than the $2.26 billion that Citigroup had set aside. The bank’s net interest yield — a measurement of how much profit the bank is earning on the loans it approved — was 1.72% in the quarter, down from 2.41% a year earlier.
JPMorgan, Citi profits improve amid signs of recovery
Both Citi and JPMorgan set aside fewer funds to cover potentially bad loans, contributing to the improvement in their third-quarter results. JPMorgan had $611 million in loan loss provisions this quarter, a fraction of the $10.47 billion the bank set aside in the second quarter. Meanwhile Citigroup’s provision for credit losses was $2.26 billion in the third quarter compared to $7.9 billion the quarter before. Citi said its third-quarter net income fell to $3.23 billion from $4.91 billion a year earlier. JPMorgan and Citi were the first of the major banks to report its results this week.
JPMorgan puts $30B toward fixing banking's 'systemic racism'
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – JPMorgan Chase said Thursday it will extend billions in loans to Black and Latino homebuyers and small business owners in an expanded effort toward fixing what the bank calls “systemic racism” in the country’s economic system. “Systemic racism is a tragic part of America’s history,” said JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon in a statement. Citigroup announced last month it is committing $1 billion toward closing “the racial wealth gap” in the United States, including $550 million toward homeownership programs for racial minorities. He noted that there’s a 30% gap between Black and white homeownership, amounting to about 4.5 million households. JPMorgan was one of 27 major New York-based companies that joined a program to recruit 100,000 workers from the city's low-income, predominately Black, Latino and Asian communities over the next 10 years.
Detroit mayor pledges $50 million to keep affordable housing in city
DETROIT – As Detroit continues to come back, Mayor Mike Duggan wants to make sure the city is affordable for everyone. On Tuesday, Duggan, along with nonprofit organizations and JPMorgan Chase, announced a $50 million pledge to keep affordable housing in the city. The overall goal is to raise $75 million to develop housing, such as the Saint Rita building. Affordable housing can quickly evaporate when new jobs and businesses move into the city. But over the last few years, Duggan said of 4,000 affordable housing units that have expired, all have been renewed.
Some JPMorgan traders catch COVID as bank reopens offices
NEW YORK – A number of JPMorgan Chase traders have been sent home after employees tested positive for COVID-19, less than a week into the bank's push to start bringing its workers physically back into the office. New York-based JPMorgan has been insisting its traders and senior management return to their physical offices, setting a required start date of Sept. 21. Marchiony declined to say whether JPMorgan would continue its push to reopen the offices or what percentage of the its workforce of about 257,000 was now working physically in branches and offices. Few other banks or financial companies had been as insistent as JPMorgan to return its workers to the office. For example, American Express, which has a substantial presence in New York City like JPMorgan, announced that all its employees could continue to work remotely until July 2021.
US consumer spending up 5.6%, but virus could stall gains
The number of laid-off Americans who have applied for unemployment benefits has topped 1 million for 19 straight weeks. The $1,200 checks have been largely spent, though, and the $600 in unemployment benefits is expiring. Doing so would weaken spending by consumers, the primary driver of the economy. Unemployed Americans have been receiving both state unemployment aid and $600 a week in additional benefits from the federal government. The federal aid has pumped nearly $20 billion a week into the economy and enabled many of the unemployed to stay afloat.
Banks set aside billions, bracing for more economic pain
Thanks largely to the funds set aside for bad loans, JPMorgan's profit fell by half in the April-June quarter, Citigroup's sank about 70% and Wells Fargo reported its first quarterly loss since the financial crisis of 2008. In its second-quarter results, JPMorgan said it set aside $10.5 billion to cover potentially bad loans. Thats on top of the $8.3 billion the bank set aside in April, when the pandemic was only just starting to impact the U.S. economy. Citi, which is heavily exposed in credit cards, set aside an additional $7.9 billion to cover potentially bad loans. Wells Fargo, which did not set aside as much money as its peers in April, had to play catch up this quarter, setting aside $8.4 billion to cover potentially bad loans.
Dow pops 250 points on blockbuster earnings
Blockbuster earnings from the likes of JPMorgan Chase and UnitedHealth sent the Dow climbing more than 250 points, or roughly 1%, in afternoon trading. After weeks of trying to decipher the latest developments in the trade war, the start of earnings season has allowed investors to refocus on the fundamentals. The IMF on Tuesday cut its 2019 global growth forecast, calling for the weakest pace since the financial crisis. However, the big banks on the front lines of America's economy reported mostly upbeat results on Tuesday. The Wall Street firm was hurt by slowdowns in M&A and the trouble in the IPO market.
3 JPMorgan traders indicted in alleged pricing scheme
(CNN) - Three JPMorgan Chase traders in gold and other precious metals have been charged with alleged market manipulation by the US Department of Justice. The alleged conduct spanned eight years, the Justice Department said Monday. The government charged Gregg Smith, an executive director, and Michael Nowak, a managing director and head of the bank's global precious metals desk. The government claims the defendants engaged in "widespread spoofing, market manipulation and fraud" by placing trade orders they planned to cancel before executing them, according to a Justice Department statement. The aim "was to trick" other traders into buying and selling futures contracts at prices and at times they wouldn't have otherwise done, the Justice Department alleges.
JPMorgan: China tariffs could cost US households $1,000 a year
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images(CNN) - President Donald Trump and his advisers insist their trade war with China won't hurt American consumers. The tariffs Trump has already imposed on China are estimated to cost the average American household $600 per year, according to a report by JPMorgan Chase. He said the tariffs on China will wipe out most of the benefits households got from the Republican tax cuts. Trade war casts shadow on economyThe tit-for-tat battle between the world's two largest economies threatens to set off a severe slowdown or even recession. Trump escalated the trade war with China this month by vowing to impose 10% tariffs on $300 billion of U.S. imports from China on Sept. 1.
Cargo ship owned by JPMorgan Chase seized with 20 tons of cocaine
More than $1 billion worth of cocaine seized at Philadelphia port, U.S. Attorney's office says. (CNN) - US authorities in Philadelphia seized a cargo vessel in June with nearly 20 tons of cocaine on board. The ship, as it turns out, is owned by a fund run by banking giant JPMorgan Chase. That means JPMorgan Chase does not have any operational control of the vessel, a Liberian-flagged ship that is run by the Swiss-based Mediterranean Shipping Company. At the time, just the drugs were seized by the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency.
JPMorgan Chase increases Detroit investment to $200 million
DETROIT - JPMorgan Chase is doubling down on its investment in Detroit, pumping millions of dollars more into the city after handing over $150 million previously. Cynt-Sational Popcorn is just one of the many businesses spawned from the small business investment JPMorgan Chase is funding. CEO Jamie Dimon rolled out his original Detroit investment on the "Today" Show five years and $100 million ago. They needed a licensed commercial kitchen to get into stores and discovered the Detroit Kitchen Connect, renting twice a week. She said without JPMorgan Chase putting $5 million into Shed 5 or backing business development, none of it would be possible.
ClickOnDetroit Morning Briefing -- June 26, 2019
A view of the Ambassador Bridge over the Detroit River on June 26, 2019. (WDIV)DETROIT - ClickOnDetroit Morning Briefing -- June 26, 2019JPMorgan Chase has announced a new $50 million commitment to Detroits economic recovery, bringing the firms total investment to $200 million by 2022. More local headlines:For more Local News head to ClickOnDetroit.com/news/local. Submit a news tipTell us what's happening in your community -- submit a news tip to Local 4 and ClickOnDetroit right here. Tweets by Local4NewsCopyright 2019 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit - All rights reserved.
JPMorgan Chase offers additional $50 million Detroit investment
DETROIT - JPMorgan Chase has announced a new $50 million commitment to Detroits economic recovery, bringing the firms total investment to $200 million by 2022. The firm is hosting two events Wednesday to celebrate their investment announcement. 3:30-4:15 p.m. at the A. Philip Randolph Technical High School Auditorium -- JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan will hold a townhall Q&A conversation with Randolph High School graduates. 6-8 p.m. -- Event at Charles H. Wright African American MuseumThe announcement comes as the firm exceeded its initial five-year, $150 million commitment. Too many people are being left behind, and we need to build an economy that works for everyone, said Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase.