Chicago Alderwoman Proposes City Stop Doing Business With JPMorgan Chase After It Admits to Illegal Actions

Every time JPMorgan Chase is caught ripping off billions, all they have to do is
provide a billion-dollar payoff and nobody goes to jail. Jamie Dimon, chairman,
president and CEO of JPMorgan Chase. (Photo by Steve Jurvetson)

If individuals with criminal records can be banned from public housing, why can't JPMorgan, a criminal enterprise that has engaged in multi-billions of dollars of illegal dealings, be banned from doing any business whatsoever with government entities on the local, state and federal levels?

By Mark Karlin, Editor of BuzzFlash at Truthout
A politican wants to hold Wall Street accountable for its criminal and willfully negligent behavior -- and lo and behold, it's a Chicago alderwoman, according to the Sun-Times:

Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th Ward) plans to introduce a City Council ordinance ...deleting the bank from its list of 19 designated financial heavy hitters.

Chase as a municipal depository.

..about $350 million in city municipal funds are now deposited with
Chase.

Hairston argues that JPMorgan Chase should be treated like any other person or business prohibited from doing business with the city:

“The bank has violated the city code by making admissions of dishonesty and deceit in the way they dealt with their investors in the mortgage securities and Bernie Madoff Ponzi scandals,” Hairston [said].

“We use this code against city contractors and all the small companies, why wouldn’t we use this against one of the largest banks in the world,” she said.

“It’s bad enough the penalties imposed against them by the feds don’t really pinch them because they are able to pay off the fines levied against them."

RELATED STORY: The ‘Too Big to Jail’ Saga Continues

Actually, JP Morgan Chase has made multiple admissions of negligence, fraud and either criminal behavior or what amounts to criminal behavior for a variety of financial misdeeds. But the Obama Administration, through Attorney General Holder, has let CEO Jamie Dimon and Chase off the hook by assessing billions and billions of dollars in fines. As repeatedly reported on BuzzFlash at Truthout, AG Holder has said that the banks too big to fail are too big to prosecute, because indictments and convictions might negatively impact the economy.


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