Dimon Suggests That Billions Lost in Derivatives Fraud is Standard Banking Practice

Susanne Posel, Contributor
Activist Post

Jamie Dimon, Chairman of JPMorgan Chase is hoping that the American public will be sympathetic toward the recent $2 billion in losses that the financial firm has incurred because of their investments in derivatives.

Dimon suggests that: Hey, everybody makes mistakes — sure, we lost $2 billion, but we’ve still got billions more, and we’ll figure out this one ourselves without the need for any further regulations, thank you.

This assertion is simply an attempt at distracting the American perspective on this debacle. Since the repeal of Glass-Stegall, and the deregulation of the banks, the US economy has suffered at the hands of the banking cartels.

The mega-banks are doing a great job at destroying the financial system, yet Dimon wants to shift the attention to this mishap as something that could happen to anyone.

David Gregory, host of Meet The Press, recently interviewed Dimon. Gregory asked: “How did this happen?”

Dimon responded: “First of all, there was one warning signal — if you look back from today, there were other red flags. That particular red flag — you know, we made a mistake, we got very defensive and people started justifying everything we did. You know, the benefit in life is to say, ‘Maybe you made a mistake, let’s dig deep.’ And the mistake had been brewing for a while, so it wasn’t just any one thing.”

Dimon used Gregory’s ignorance about the banking system to his advantage. Dimon’s intent was to misinform the audience as to the inner-workings of the banking industry.

The Volcker Rule forbids banks from making risky trades for their own profit. This federal proposal would severely restrict Dimon from conducting his “business as usual” which results in damage to our financial markets. Dimon disregards his involvement in violating this proposed rule which resulted in financial loss.

The problem is simple to understand.

A JPMorgan trader based in London, who is a derivatives expert, placed bets that corporate debt was becoming less of a risk under the false supposition that corporations are becoming financially stronger. Based on a lie, this trader would benefit from any movement on the index. The result was a substantial loss for JPMorgan.

Dimon wants the American public to think of this bet as a hedge; however, hedges actually reduce risk. Hedges make money while investments lose money to cover the losses.

As of now, JPMorgan’s debt is beginning to show. They have overextended themselves by lending. The London trader was doing on a smaller scale, what Dimon does with corporations. Dimon uses derivatives to create a fake bank without actually lending to corporations as is normal banking practice.

If Dimon had $350 billion of expendable cash, why not use it to prop up banks to facilitate lending? That would assist the US economy. Yet, Dimon is using derivatives as a casino uses chips at a roulette table.

By using derivatives, this distances JPMorgan from the disaster. The Volcker Rule would eradicate this practice. Senator Carl Levin, the author of this rule points out that “banks [are] easily [using] portfolio-based hedging to mask proprietary trading”.

By using “portfolio – hedging” Dimon can mask his bets. Dimon wrote to his shareholders, saying that “if there must be more rules,” they need to allow portfolio hedging.

The fact that Dimon is trying to classify this instance as an “out-of-the-blue mistake” shows that when bankers misappropriate funds in a scheme to commit fraud, the public should pay attention.

Dimon says that new rules requiring banking firms to retain more capital in reserve would put a “nail in our coffin of big American banks”. Dimon is referring to the practice of banks to lend out 90% of their actual cash stores. If they were regulated to lend what they actually have, the banking system would fail. Dimon is cleverly trying to blame regulators and not standard banking practices for future monetary losses.

Forecast models that Dimon cites in the interview were falsified to appear to indicate an honest error. This illegal practice should not be explained away so easily.

It is a tell as to what is going on behind the scenes while the mega-banks are assisting the central bankers in the planned demolition of the US dollar.

Read other articles by Susanne Posel HERE.

Susanne Posel is the Chief Editor of Occupy Corporatism. Our alternative news site is dedicated to reporting the news as it actually happens; not as it is spun by the corporately funded mainstream media. You can find us on our Facebook page.