After years of claiming that no criminality had been
involved in the securitization and sales of subprime-mortgage-based bonds, the
U.S. Department of Justice began to change its tune by mid-2013. The Justice
Department was investigating the $2.6 trillion-in-assets JPMorgan Chase bank
over its sale of mortgage securities from 2005 to 2007. The government was
investigating other large financial institutions too, but the damage to
JPMorgan’s reputation could easily dwarf such impacts on the other big banks.
For this reason, JPMorgan’s executives, rather than having no comment as the
bank released the news in quarterly filings, should have “taken the bull by the
horns” by acting proactively in terms of corporate social responsibility.
"Ok, I lied to clients about the bonds, but we had a deal: No Jail Time!" Image Source: serenity-international.com