JPMorgan Chase’s Crazy Fine Tally

The nice thing about being in the financial services world is that you never really have to say you’re sorry. Screw over customers, botch foreclosures, run afoul of important regulations, and violate some important rules—and the worst you’ll have to do is pay some fines or settlements. It’s a cost of doing business, even for America’s most highly regarded banks. Take JPMorgan Chase. The New York–based firm, under the leadership of hard-charging CEO Jamie Dimon, emerged from the financial crisis in much better shape than many of its rivals. But that doesn’t mean the bank wasn’t involved in many of the shenanigans that helped cause the financial crisis and have contributed to a slow recovery. In fact, in the past few years, JPMorgan Chase has been party to a series of very expensive legal settlements. In many recent quarters, as it rang up big profits, the bank was forced to set aside hundreds of millions of dollars to deal with litigation. Joshua Rosner, a financial analyst and co-author of Reckless Endangerment, in March estimated that the company’s litigation expenses since 2009 have totaled $16 billion. And it’s not over yet. Along with a current investigation as to whether it failed to alert authorities to suspicions about Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, The New York Times reported that at least eight federal agencies are currently investigating the bank. More in The Daily Beast here.
Here are some of the highlights—or lowlights—of the bank’s settlements over the past couple of years.