Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief govt officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., listens throughout a Enterprise Roundtable CEO Innovation Summit dialogue in Washington, D.C., Dec. 6, 2018.
Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Photographs
JPMorgan Chase welcomed workers again from a protracted vacation weekend with a troubling message of their inboxes: A few of them might have been concerned in probably criminality.
The financial institution’s working committee, led by CEO Jamie Dimon, despatched an e mail Tuesday morning to its 256,710 workers saying that whereas the pandemic has introduced out one of the best in lots of employees, it additionally discovered cases the place prospects abused the federal government’s coronavirus reduction packages.
“Sadly, we have additionally seen conduct that doesn’t dwell as much as our enterprise and moral ideas — and will even be unlawful,” the financial institution’s committee stated. “This contains cases of consumers misusing Paycheck Protection Program loans, unemployment advantages and different authorities packages. Some workers have fallen quick, too.”
The federal government’s mammoth $2.2 trillion coronavirus reduction package deal included the Paycheck Safety Program for small companies, enhanced unemployment advantages for people and help for bigger firms. Fraud specialists had anticipated {that a} program of that measurement would lead to some factor of abuse, and circumstances have emerged the place criminals used PPP funds to buy Lamborghinis and different luxurious objects.
However PPP had been designed by the Treasury Division as basically an honor system that put many of the onus on the candidates, who needed to certify on the necessity for these loans, and never the banks or its workers. JPMorgan spokeswoman Trish Wexler declined to touch upon precisely how financial institution workers had fallen quick of their duties.
“We’re doing all we are able to to establish these cases, and cooperate with regulation enforcement the place acceptable,” the financial institution stated. “We would like you to know as a result of we want everybody to be vigilant.”
Lawmakers have been at an deadlock over extending a number of key parts of the pandemic reduction program, and new revelations of abuse might not assist in these negotiations. JPMorgan, the most important U.S. lender by belongings, was the most important issuer of PPP loans, doling out greater than $29 billion in this system. Bloomberg reported on the memo earlier.
With reporting from CNBC’s Jim Forkin
