Free Republic

Beege's excellent post on the financial bonanza that Trump's tariffs have brought highlights one side of the story that the Pravda Media didn't expect. JP Morgan's reversal of its prediction that Trump's trade policy would usher in a recession tells the other side. All the "best people" have missed the point of Trump's moves to reshape world trade. JP Morgan's prediction that the tariffs would usher in a serious recession was not insane. Any economist will tell you that, all other things being equal, reducing the friction involved in people trading will reduce the efficiency of the market. Inefficient markets...

Charlie Javice faces up to 30 years for tricking JPMorgan into buying her fintech startup for $175M. After Friday's verdict, her lawyers argued wearing an ankle monitor would ruin her Pilates career. Convicted JPMorgan fraudster Charlie Javice will have a tougher time teaching Pilates, at least for now. Wearing the bulky device once again — as she had for several weeks before a November decision granting its removal — would be a severe impediment to her career as a Pilates instructor, Sullivan said. "To have your legs in the air and the monitor going up and down on your leg...

If you’ve ever had a rug pulled out from under you, then you know how it feels to suddenly lose access to your own bank account. That’s what happened to me in 2022, when JPMorgan Chase, America’s largest bank, abruptly canceled our newly opened account for the National Committee for Religious Freedom. I started NCRF after spending decades in public life, including three years in the first Trump administration serving as ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. The group proactively defends the constitutional freedom of religion so that all Americans can peaceably live according to their faith. Our advisory board includes...

The US federal government weaponized the banking system to attack conservatives during the Biden Administration. A Congressional investigation committee released an extremely concerning report in December entitled: “FINANCIAL SURVEILLANCE IN THE UNITED STATES: HOW THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WEAPONIZED THE BANK SECRECY ACT TO SPY ON AMERICANS” that details how the US government has been monitoring American citizens through bank transactions, with an emphasis on citizens who have expressed conservative viewpoints. The banks were caught red-handed and now some are expressing their need to change, so long as they are in line with whomever is currently in the White House. JPMorgan...

JPMorgan Chase has agreed to adopt language that will protect against future instances of political and religious debanking in its Code of Conduct. The changes mark a crucial step forward at the nation’s largest bank, which has come under heightened scrutiny for several instances of apparent viewpoint-based cancelations in recent years. The policy changes, which Chase has agreed to adopt and post publicly by late July, protect against religious and political discrimination for customers, suppliers, contractors, and employees. In particular, the changes specify that the company will “not tolerate discrimination” “based on … religion, religious affiliation, or religious views” or...

A former boss of Barclays, who was ousted from the bank over his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, will seek to clear his name in court this week. Jes Staley was forced out in November 2021 after UK regulators ruled he had failed to accurately disclose the nature and length of his relationship with Epstein to the Barclays board. The episode cost Mr Staley, a man with a glittering and rewarding career in investment banking, £18m in pay and bonuses and, more importantly, his reputation. -snip- A cache of emails released by his former employer JP Morgan suggested...

Wall Street’s defense of its DEI initiatives suddenly got a lot more complicated. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, a longtime advocate of diversity and using bank resources to aid minority communities, told employees this past week during a town hall that he "was never a firm believer in bias training" and had questions about money being spent on certain DEI programs. "I saw how we were spending money on some of this stupid shit, and it really pissed me off," Dimon said, according to a recording of the town hall obtained by Yahoo Finance. "I’m just going to cancel them....

During an animated town hall meeting on Wednesday, the 68-year-old was questioned on the petition which has garnered roughly 950 signatures. In a recording reviewed by Reuters, Dimon said: 'Don’t waste time on it. I don’t care how many people sign that f****** petition.' Employees at the largest bank in the country have been complaining on internal message boards and chats about losing their hybrid working arrangements. Dimon demanded more efficiency and stressed that employees have a choice on whether they continue to work at JPMorgan. He told them not to be mad at him about the rolling back of...

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has been communicating with Donald Trump in recent months through secret back channels, helping the president-elect hammer out a policy agenda before and since his decisive White House victory, The Post has learned. The 68-year-old Wall Street titan — who, like 78-year-old Trump, grew up in Queens in New York City — has acted as “a sounding board” for the incoming commander-in-chief’s economic manifesto, four sources close to Trump’s transition team *** The quietly cozy relationship between Trump and Dimon has flourished despite the banker’s cryptic and tight-lipped tendencies when it comes to politics. Trump...

Republican Senator John Cornyn (TX) said he “absolutely” wants to review the House Ethics Committee’s investigation of Matt Gaetz. Fresh off of losing his bid to be Senate Majority Leader, RINO Cornyn told reporters that he wants to see Matt Gaetz’s ethics report after Trump nominated him as US Attorney General. Matt Gaetz resigned from Congress on Wednesday evening after President Trump announced his nomination for US Attorney General.

If you noticed, some of the biggest names in finance are starting to run away from their initial support of Kamala Harris. It’s not that they’ve seen the light and are ready to embrace Donald Trump’s MAGA agenda. Rather they’ve seen the poll numbers (they pay up for the real ones the public isn’t privy to) and they’re slowly coming to terms that the sometimes crass, often indicted Trump might just be winning this race against Harris for the White House. And they’re scared. That’s the assessment from my sources at top Wall Street firms who witnessed interesting 180s at...

In the July 18 edition of Gold Newsletter, editor and publisher Brien Lundin wrote about the failure of silver prices to keep up with gold prices. "I'm not the kind of conspiracy buff that many of my friends in the industry are," Lundin wrote, "but it's hard to look at silver and not see some hidden hands at work (especially considering who holds so much of the metal in both physical and paper forms while acting as custodian for the biggest silver exchange-traded fund)." Of course, Lundin meant investment bank JPMorgan Chase and silver ETF SLV. Why anyone would invest...

JPMorgan Chase just issued a major warning to its 86 million customers. The banking giant says a list of new regulations from Washington, D.C. will force the company to begin charging customers for checking accounts, reports the Wall Street Journal. The bank cites proposed regulations from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Reserve, which are pushing for new caps on credit and debit card late fees and higher capital reserves, as primary catalysts that would push the bank to eliminate free checking services.

JPMorgan Chase bank has apparently rolled back a policy that led to the de-banking of several conservatives and nonprofit groups, according to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). Fox News reported on Friday that the bank had rolled back its WePay service, and the Christian law firm is praising the move. The service “required merchants to refrain from accepting payments or using the service for activities related to ‘social risk issues,’ which the bank defined as anything ‘subject to allegation and impacts related to hate groups, systemic racism, sexual harassment and corporate culture,'” the outlet said. In May 2019, JPMorgan Chase Chief...

Jamie Dimon’s days as CEO of JPMorgan Chase are numbered — though its unclear by how much.In a response to a question Monday about the bank’s succession planning, Dimon indicated that his expected tenure is less than five more years. That’s a key change from Dimon’s previous responses to succession questions, in which his standard answer had been that retirement was perpetually five years away.

In the classroom, the boardroom, and at the speaker’s dais, the former chair of the joint chiefs cashes in. SINCE RETIRING FROM the military last year, former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley has become a senior adviser to JPMorgan Chase bank, joined the faculties of Princeton and Georgetown, and embraced the lucrative paid speaking circuit. From military pay of $204,000 a year, Milley is sure to skyrocket to compensation in the millions, especially because he is represented by the same high-powered speakers’ agency as Hillary Clinton, who faced criticism in 2016 for her paid...

Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser got a 6% pay bump for her performance in 2023, a year the bank's profits dropped 38% and Fraser began a dramatic restructuring that will result in an estimated 20,000 job cuts. The board awarded her total compensation of $26 million, ... The $26 million for Fraser was the lowest among CEO rivals at JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley, who received between $29 million and $37 million. Bank of America's Brian Moynihan was the only CEO among this group to experience a compensation decline. ... Fraser had a lot...

A criminal IRS investigation into Hunter Biden — President Biden’s son — appears to have convened a grand jury as far back as May 2019, a confidential subpoena served to JPMorgan Chase bank reveals. The subpoena also seeks bank records of James Biden, the president’s brother, which appears to be the first time another Biden family member has surfaced in connection with the investigation. The document, obtained by Breitbart News, specifically demands information on related transactions between JPMorgan Chase Bank, which the document calls “correspondent bank,” and the Bank of China, which the document calls the “originating or beneficiary bank.”...

JPMorgan Chase and institutional investors BlackRock and State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) on Thursday announced that they are quitting or, in the case of BlackRock, substantially scaling back involvement in a massive United Nations climate alliance formed to combat global warming through corporate sustainability agreements. In a statement, the New York-based JPMorgan Chase explained that it would exit the so-called Climate Action 100+ investor group because of the expansion of its in-house sustainability team and the establishment of its climate risk framework in recent years. BlackRock and State Street, which both manage trillions of dollars in assets, said the alliance's...

Almost $60 million in debt backed by 1515 Market St. was transferred to special servicing in December, adding the 20-story building to the growing list of distressed office properties surrounding City Hall. The building's owner, Florida-based Accesso Partners, has a $59.4 million balance on the loan it took out to acquire 1515 Market for $85 million in 2014. The loan, which was originated by JPMorgan Chase & Co. before being converted into a commercial mortgage-backed security (CMBS) and sold to investors, is set to mature in January 2025. Contacted by the Business Journal for comment, Accesso issued a statement saying...