JPMC CEO: Some Employees Have ‘Fallen Short’ As Bank Investigates Stimulus Violations

Dimon and banking

JPMorgan Chase employees returned to work following the Labor Day weekend Tuesday (Sept. 8) to discover a company email accusing some of them of potentially committing a crime, CNBC reported.

The memo was sent to 256,710 employees from the bank’s operating committee led by CEO Jamie Dimon. It said while the pandemic brought out the best in many workers, some customers abused the government’s coronavirus relief programs, according to CNBC.

“Unfortunately, we’ve also seen conduct that does not live up to our business and ethical principles — and may even be illegal,” the email said, CNBC reported. “This includes instances of customers misusing Paycheck Protection Program [PPP] loans, unemployment benefits and other government programs. Some employees have fallen short, too.”

JPMorgan Chase spokeswoman Trish Wexler declined to comment to CNBC on how bank employees had fallen short in their duties.

“We are doing all we can to identify those instances, and cooperate with law enforcement where appropriate,” Wexler told CNBC. “We want you to know because we need everyone to be vigilant.”

Earlier this month, a congressional investigation found more than $1 billion in PPP funds went to small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that received multiple loans, a violation of the federal program’s rules.

The staff of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis looked at more than 5.2 million loans totaling $525 billion in PPP forgivable loans issued by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Department of the Treasury.

The report found 10,856 loans where borrowers appeared to receive multiple loans. The panel also found about 600 loans totaling more than $96 million that went to companies suspended from doing business with the government.

Under the terms of the initiative, SMBs could apply for a loan of up to $10 million, while the SBA reported most of the loans were $150,000 less. The money does not have to be paid back if at least 60 percent of the proceeds are spent on payroll.

In June, the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Labor reported as much as $26 billion in unemployment benefits is either being taken by fraudsters or improperly made for one reason or another. The estimate is based on a 10 percent fraud and abuse rate applied to the $260 billion expansion in jobless benefits under the CARES Act.