JPMorgan CEO Calls For ‘Liberal’ Dems To Back Nikki Haley’s Presidential Bid To Beat Trump
'Even if you're a very liberal Democrat'
Coutts claimed it de-banked Nigel Farage for financial reasons. The Brexiteer has since obtained the real reasons — and an apology from the bank president.
Nigel Farage, the former English politician who proved instrumental in the 2020 restoration of British sovereignty via Brexit, obtained documents this week revealing that his de-banking by Coutts was grossly political in nature.
According to the Telegraph, Coutts bank, part of the NatWest Group, previously indicated to the BBC and the Financial Times that Farage's account had been closed for financial reasons.
That claim has since crumbled, resulting in an apology — not from the media outlets who got it wrong but from the head of the bank.
Farage recently obtained a damning 40-page file from Coutts bank via a "subject access request," which was subsequently published in its entirety by the Daily Mail.
The document, which had been presented to the bank's wealth reputational risk committee in November 2022 and focused on Farage's "controversial profile in public life and politics," acknowledged he was a commercially-viable customer, contrary to the bank's earlier suggestion.
Notwithstanding his viability, the document provided a number of politically charged reasons why Coutts would be best off closing Farage's account and "exiting" him upon the expiry of his mortgage, even though "it is very likely that the client would 'go public.'"
While admitting that there was "nothing substantive" to shore up allegations that he might have unbecoming "Russian connections," the document stressed that he had made a number of "public comments that created an increased reputational risk of Coutts continuing to bank with him."
Among the remarks, social media posts, and stances Farage took that got the bank 's dander up were:
- his 2020 comparison of the destructive and scandal-prone Black Lives Matter movement to the Taliban over their shared iconoclastic tendency to tear down statues;
- his October 2022 suggestion that British politician Grant Shapps was a "remainer and a globalist";
- his September 2022 suggestion that vicious tensions between Islamic and Hindu groups in Leicester were resultant of politicians deciding "to go down the road of diversity and multiculturalism";
- his criticism of climate alarmism and his suggestion that "Net zero is net stupid";
- his "Endorsements of Donald Trump"; and
- his appearances on InfoWars.
The document further insinuated that Farage could be regarded as a "disingenuous grifter" with "xenophobic, chauvinistic and racist views."
Farage, who previously suggested his de-banking amounted to "political persecution," responded to the document, calling it "astonishing, it's abusive and it makes a whole series of wildly false statements about Russia while acknowledging I have not been convicted of anything."
He further characterized the bank document as a "Stasi-style surveillance report."
Suealla Braverman, a British Conservative member of Parliament and Home Secretary, noted Wednesday, "The Coutts scandal exposes the sinister nature of much of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion industry Apparently anyone who wants to control our borders & stop the boats can be branded 'xenophobic' & have their bank account closed in the name of 'inclusivity.'"
Braverman suggested that other organizations "who have naively adopted this politically biased dogma need a major rethink."
Following similar denunciations from other parliamentarians, Alison Rose, the chief executive of NatWest Group, apologized to Farage Thursday, writing, "I am writing to apologise for the deeply inappropriate comments about yourself made in the now published papers prepared for the Wealth Committee. ... I would like to make it clear that they do not reflect the view of the bank," reported GB News.
"I believe very strongly that freedom of expression and access to banking are fundamental to our society and it is absolutely not our policy to exit a customer on the basis of legally held political and personal views," added Rose. "To this end, I would like to personally reiterate our offer to you of alternative banking arrangements at NatWest."
Farage responded on Twitter, writing, "Dame Alison Rose’s apology is a start, but it is no more than that. She needs to take responsibility as CEO, and is wrong to say the views of her own committee’s report don’t reflect the bank. I will now defend thousands of other people that have been de-banked on her watch."
It appears neither the BBC nor the BBC reporter, Simon Jack, who originally peddled Coutts' false claims about Farage's cancellation, have yet apologized to the Brexiteer.
The Sunday Times reported that following the revelation that Farage's politics likely played a determining factor in his de-banking, NatWest will soon be faced with an avalanche of requests from tens-of-thousands of similarly de-banked customers to know why they were kicked to the curb.
De-banking is not a uniquely British phenomenon.
JPMorgan Chase canceled the faith-based nonprofit National Committee for Religious Freedom's checking account last year, reported the Christian Post.
Sam Brownback, NCRF chairman and former Trump ambassador-at-large or international religious freedom, indicated there was "never an official cause given" or forewarning for the account closure.
NCRF Executive Director Justin Murff posed the question, "If they can 'de-bank' the NCRF, a multi-faith religious nonprofit, what happens when they start 'de-banking' pastors and Christian business people?"
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) subsequently penned a letter to the bank's CEO, Jamie Dimon, stating, "I have previously noted my grave concern with politically-motivated de-banking. Bank decisions should be made using impartial risk standards to determine credit worthiness, not arbitrary political or ideological concerns."
Nebraska State Treasurer John Murante (R) wrote an opinion piece in Newsweek in March, highlighting how Chase "has denied payments or canceled accounts associated with people and organizations—such as former ambassador Sam Brownback, the Arkansas Family Council, Defense of Liberty, and retired general Michael Flynn, Jr—for holding mainstream American views. In fact, a former Chase executive described the bank's practice of 'red-dotting,' where Chase employees can flag customers for cancelation based on their perceived reputational or social risk."
Murante added, "When powerful banks like Chase retain unbridled discretion to cancel accounts for arbitrary or biased reasons, it undermines the freedom of everyday Americans to participate in society and the marketplace without fear of discrimination based on their political or religious views."
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Former Dallas Fed head warns the US regional banking crisis is 'more serious than we currently understand'
There have been three major bank failures so far this year, and some experts claim the carnage may not yet be at an end.
Former Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan told Bloomberg Television this week that he thinks "the banking situation may well be more serious than we currently understand."
Silicon Valley Bank collapsed in March, marking the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history. Signature Bank, which had $110 billion in assets at the end of 2022, making it the 29th largest U.S. bank at the time, failed shortly thereafter.
Americans have pulled nearly $100 billion out of banks since, according to Fox Business.
Biden Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen claimed in mid-March that the "banking system is sound." However, just weeks later, First Republic Bank, which had assets over $200 billion and catered to wealthy elites, similarly failed.
First Republic's demise represented the second-largest banking failure in American history, trailing the 2008 collapse of Washington Mutual.
Over the weekend, regulators seized First Republic and sold the bank's deposits and a "substantial majority of assets" to JPMorgan Chase, the largest U.S. bank. JPMorgan similarly absorbed Washington Mutual after its collapse.
Echoing Yellen's March claim, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon suggested Monday that the primary phase of the regional bank crisis was "over," reported the Guardian.
"There may be another smaller one, but this pretty much resolves them all," Dimon said. "This part of the crisis is over."
Tomasz Piskorski, a professor of real estate in the finance division at Columbia University, told Bloomberg, "There are a lot of signs telling us the U.S. banking system is in distress. ... We might want to close our eyes and pretend nothing’s happened, but the signs are already there."
CNBC reported that bank stocks fell dramatically Tuesday, in part because confidence remains shaken and pressure on the sector continues to build.
For instance, shares of the California-based PacWest Bancorp fell nearly 28% on Tuesday. The stock was halted for volatility on a number of occasions.
Shares of Western Alliance bank dropped 15%.
The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF fell 6.3%.
\u201cBREAKING: US Banking Crisis - Bank Shares Plummet \n\nShares of major U.S. regional banks fell further on Tuesday in the aftermath of the collapse of First Republic Bank, the largest U.S. bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis.\n\nShares of PacWest Bancorp tumbled nearly 30%,\u2026\u201d— Mario Nawfal (@Mario Nawfal) 1683043099
According to Time, investors and analysts remain concerned about banks such as Comerica and KeyCorp, which — like SVB and Signature Bank — have a large number of accounts with deposits over the federally insured level of $250,000.
CNBC indicated that this concern can be attributed to the recent failures, the expected regulatory changes they have prompted, and prospective Fed rate hikes.
Former Dallas Fed president Robert Kaplan suggested that as far as the regional banking crisis goes, it would be ill advised for the Federal Reserve to continue its rate hike campaign.
The Fed is expected to raised its benchmark rate by 0.25 percentage points on May 3.
"I’d prefer to do what’s called the hawkish pause, not raise but signal that we are in a tightening stance," Kaplan told Bloomberg. "It is more important to be able to sustain the current rate for an extended period of time, longer than the market thinks, than to get another 25-50 basis points and risk having to cut again. I think that will be very troubling."
Economist Peter St Onge of the Heritage Foundation noted Monday that thousands of banks are "in trouble because of the fastest rate hikes in 50 years [which] crashed their bonds, impaired their loans, and vaporized the easy profits they were making paying depositors pennies."
Onge further claimed that virtually every bank in America loaded up on expensive bonds "to park the influx of pandemic-era deposits" then lost "hundreds of billions as rates went up. American banks are now sitting on at least $620 billion of unrealized hidden losses. So First Republic was about 5% of that and we've got 95% to go."
\u201cFirst Republic bailed out for $63 billion\u201d— Peter St Onge, Ph.D. (@Peter St Onge, Ph.D.) 1682944624
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'Say hi to Snow White': Jeffrey Epstein offered 'Disney princesses' to top JPMorgan exec, trafficking victims paid over $1 million from accounts at megabank, unsealed docs say
Newly unsealed court documents show Jeffrey Epstein had a very chummy relationship with a former top JPMorgan Chase executive and would email photos of young girls. The U.S. Virgin Islands' lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase also said that at least 20 trafficking victims of Epstein were paid more than $1 million through accounts at the megabank.
JPMorgan flags Jeffrey Epstein as a 'high-risk' client
In 2006, JPMorgan Chase flagged Epstein as a "high-risk" client after he was being investigated by the Palm Beach Police Department and the FBI over sex assault accusations by at least 40 victims, including 34 confirmed minors and a girl as young as 14.
According to the lawsuit, JPMorgan's Global Corporate Security Division flagged “several newspaper articles ... that detail the indictment of Jeffrey Epstein in Florida on felony charges of soliciting underage prostitutes."
In 2011, Epstein confidante Ghislaine Maxwell was also flagged by the bank.
Court documents say, "Maxwell wanted to set up an account for her ‘personal recruitment consulting business.'"
A JPMorgan director with the bank's anti-money-laundering program reportedly asked in an email, "What does she mean by personal recruitment?? Are you sure this will have nothing to do with Jeffrey? If you want to proceed, I suggest that we flag this as a High-Risk Client."
Epstein reportedly used JPMorgan accounts to pay trafficking victims
Despite being flagged as a "high-risk" client, Epstein was reportedly able to pay trafficking victims through JPMorgan Chase accounts.
"These women were trafficked and abused during different intervals between at least 2003 and July 2019, when Epstein was arrested and jailed, and these women received payments, typically multiple payments, between 2003 and 2013 in excess of $1 million collectively," court documents stated. "Epstein also withdrew more than $775,000 in cash over that time frame from JPMorgan accounts, especially significant as Epstein was known to pay for 'massages,' or sexual encounters, in cash."
The lawsuit claims that Epstein sent money to the MC2 Modeling Company – a French modeling agency owned by Jean Luc Brunel. Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre claimed that Brunel procured women – including minors – for the disgraced financier.
According to court documents, "Financial information also reflects payments drawn from JP Morgan accounts of nearly $1.5 million to known recruiters, including to the MC2 modeling agency, and another $150,000 to a private investigative firm."
Brunel was arrested in December 2020 at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris as he was attempting to board a flight to Dakar, Senegal.
Paris Prosecutor Remy Heitz said Brunel was "suspected of having committed acts of rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment on various minor or major victims and of having, in particular, organized the transport and accommodation of young girls or young women on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein."
Brunel committed suicide in a French prison cell while awaiting trial in February 2022.
Epstein allegedly offered 'Disney princesses' to top JPMorgan exec
Epstein was also apparently close friends with a top JPMorgan executive. Jes Staley worked at JPMorgan Chase for more than 30 years until he left the financial institution in 2013. Staley was named the chief executive of the investment bank in 2009. Staley became the CEO of Barclays. However, he stepped down from the position in 2021 following a probe into his ties with Epstein.
In August 2009, Staley emailed the convicted pedophile to let him know that he'd be in London in a week. Epstein allegedly asked Staley if he needed anything, and the banking exec replied, "Yep."
Staley told Epstein in December 2009, "I realize the danger in sending this email. But it was great to be able, today, to give you, in New York City, a long heartfelt, hug."
Court docs alleged that Epstein "emailed Staley photos of young women in seductive poses."
Staley sailed his yacht to Epstein's private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands in January 2010, according to the lawsuit.
Staley allegedly said to Epstein, "Arrived at your harbor. Someday, we have to do this together."
In a memorandum filed on Wednesday, attorneys for the Virgin Islands said Staley’s JPMorgan email account contained messages about "women who they referred to by the names of Disney princesses that Epstein procured for Staley" and "discussions of sex with young women."
The lawsuit says Staley emailed Epstein in July 2010: "Maybe they’re tracking u? That was fun. Say hi to Snow White."
Epstein reportedly replied, "What character would you like next?"
Staley responded by naming the Disney princess movie "Beauty and the Beast."
Epstein allegedly replied, "Well one side is available."
The lawsuit claims, "Between 2008 and 2012, Staley exchanged approximately 1,200 emails with Epstein from his JP Morgan email account. These communications show a close personal relationship and ‘profound’ friendship between the two men and even suggest that Staley may have been involved in Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation."
The lawsuit hints that JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon knew about Epstein's involvement with the megabank.
"JP Morgan's banking relationship with Epstein was known at the highest levels of the bank," the lawsuit states. "For instance, an August 2008 internal email states, 'I would count Epstein's assets as a probable outflow for '08 ($120mm or so?) as I can't imagine it will stay (pending Dimon review).'"
JPMorgan calls Virgin Islands lawsuit 'meritless'
The documents were revealed in the U.S. Virgin Islands government lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase that was filed in December. The lawsuit accuses JPMorgan Chase of "complicity" in Epstein's crimes.
JPMorgan Chase called the lawsuit "meritless."
"Having sought and obtained more than $100 million from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate and businesses for damages caused by his sex-trafficking crimes, the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) now casts farther afield for deeper pockets," JPMorgan declared.
"USVI’s lawsuit is a masterclass in deflection that seeks to hold JPMC responsible for not sleuthing out Epstein’s crimes over a decade ago," attorneys for the bank said. "Yet USVI had access at the time to the same information, allegations, and rumors about Epstein on which it alleges JPMC should have acted. Indeed, as a law-enforcement agency, USVI had access to much more, along with the investigative advantage of physical proximity to Epstein’s crimes."
"To the contrary, during the same period, USVI granted Epstein and his businesses lucrative privileges and massive tax incentives," the bank proclaimed. "Nonetheless, USVI’s suit proceeds on the untenable theory that JPMC was a participant in an Epstein sex-trafficking venture and was somehow uniquely situated to bring it to a halt."
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Virgin Islands attorney general sues JPMorgan Chase for handling Jeffrey Epstein's financial transactions after his conviction for child sex trafficking. She's fired days later.
The attorney general of the U.S. Virgin Islands accused JPMorgan Chase & Co. last week of servicing the pedophilic child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and helping him to illegally exploit women and minors.
Days later, Albert Bryan Jr., the Democrat governor of the Virgin Islands, had her fired.
What are the details?
Attorney General Denise George filed a lawsuit on Dec. 27 claiming that the bank should have known about the prolific pedophile's illegal activities on Little St. James Island and notified the authorities accordingly, reported the New York Times.
The suit said, "JPMorgan knowingly, negligently and unlawfully provided and pulled the levers through which recruiters and victims were paid and was indispensable to the operation and concealment of the Epstein trafficking enterprise."
Epstein, a friend of the Clintons and a host to various elites including Bill Gates, was reportedly a client of JPMorgan's high-end banking services for 15 years, even after his 2008 conviction — despite concerns expressed by the bank's employees.
The Times indicated that JPMorgan did not drop him as a client until 2013. He allegedly dropped himself in a unmonitored New York prison cell six years later.
The lawsuit, if successful, would have the bank turn over the profits it made while in cahoots with Epstein and his companies, as well as to pay penalties and damages to the government.
Bryan confirmed George's exit on Sunday, while President Joe Biden and his family were still vacationing nearby in Saint Croix, Virgin Islands. The governor indicated that George, who had served in the role for four years, had been relieved of her duties as attorney general.
"I thank her for her service to the people of the territory during the past four years as attorney general and wish her the best in her future endeavors. Assistant Attorney General Carol Thomas-Jacobs will serve as acting attorney general," wrote Bryan.
The Virgin Islands Consortium reported that George did not warn Bryan that she was going to file the lawsuit ahead of time.
This action, coupled with their long-fraught relationship, might have been the "final straw."
JPMorgan Chase in the crosshairs
The lawsuit, filed last week, which may yet survive George's tenure, claims that "JPMorgan facilitated and concealed wire and cash transactions that raised suspicion of — and were in fact part of — a criminal enterprise whose currency was the sexual servitude of dozens of women and girls in and beyond the Virgin Islands."
It further states, "Over more than a decade, JPMorgan clearly knew it was not complying with federal regulations in regard to Epstein-related accounts as evidenced by its too-little too-late efforts after Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges and shortly after his death, when JPMorgan belatedly complied with federal law."
"Human trafficking was the principal business of the accounts Epstein maintained at JPMorgan," said the complaint advanced by George, mincing no words.
George indicated that this lawsuit was part of an "outgoing effort" to hold the dead criminal's enablers accountable.
It is not the only initiative of its kind launched in recent months. In November, two anonymous women who accused the dead pedophile of sexual abuse filed civil lawsuits against JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank, reported CNN.
The women said that JPMorgan "provided special treatment to the sex-trafficking venture, thereby ensuring its continued operation and sexual abuse and sex-trafficking of young women and girls."
Without this financial help and participation, they suggested "Epstein's sex trafficking scheme could not have existed."
"The time has come for the real enablers to be held responsible, especially his wealthy friends and the financial institutions that played an integral role," one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, Bradley Edwards, told the Wall Street Journal. "These victims were wronged, by many, not just Epstein. He did not act alone."
A spokesman for Deutsche Bank said the "claim lacks merit." The spokesman for JPMorgan reportedly kept quiet.
Top bank CEO slams Biden admin's 'completely backwards' anti-oil policies: 'America should have been pumping oil and gas'
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon rebuked the Biden administration's energy policies this week, condemning the push away from oil and gas.
What did Dimon say?
Speaking with CNBC, Dimon responded to the energy crisis facing Europe this winter. In his response, Dimon said the Biden administration's approach to energy is "completely backwards."
"Well, I think we’re getting energy completely wrong," he said. "Ever since [the Russia-Ukraine] war started, you know that Europe is going to have a problem. And that it was pretty predictable that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin was going to cut off some gas and some oil, and oil price would go up.
"By the way, for the climate folks here, it’s made the climate worse because people have this bad assumption that higher oil prices and gas prices reduce consumption, reduce CO2. No," Dimon explained. "Poor nations — India, China, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam — are turning back on coal plants, as are rich nations called Germany, Netherlands, France.
"We have it completely backwards," the CEO declared. "In my view, America should have been pumping oil and gas."
So what does this meaning for wintertime energy markets? According to Dimon, reduced oil and gas production will create "longer-term problems," including increasing dependence on coal for energy needs.
U.S. should pump more oil to avert war-level energy crisis, says JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon www.youtube.com
Not only did Dimon knock the Biden administration's energy policies, but he also broke with President Joe Biden on the possibility of a recession, citing inflation, interest rate hikes, and the Russian-Ukraine war.
"These are very, very serious things, which I think are likely to push the U.S. and the world — I mean, Europe is already in recession — and they're likely to put the U.S. in some kind of recession 6 to 9 months from now," Dimon said.
On the other hand, Biden says a recession won't happen.
Speaking with CNN anchor Jake Tapper in an interview that aired on Tuesday, Biden responded to the possibility of a recession with a firm "no," but later softened his forecast.
"I don't think there will be a recession. If it is, it will be a slight recession," he said, adding, "I don't anticipate it."
JPMorgan CEO warns economic 'hurricane' is approaching America: 'You'd better brace yourself'
JP Morgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon warned Wednesday that an economic "hurricane" is forming that could unfortunately make landfall in the United States.
What are the details?
Speaking at a financial conference in New York, Dimon disclosed that America's largest bank is preparing itself for the impending storm, Bloomberg News reported.
"You know, I said there’s storm clouds but I’m going to change it — it’s a hurricane," Dimon warned.
Dimon explained economists do not know if the forthcoming economic storm will be "a minor one or Superstorm Sandy," referring to the 2012 hurricane that made landfall in New Jersey and caused tens of billions of dollars worth of damage.
"You’d better brace yourself," he added. "JPMorgan is bracing ourselves and we’re going to be very conservative with our balance sheet."
Two specific factors have Dimon and JPMorgan concerned. The first is the quantitative tightening the Federal Reserve is expected to begin this month. The second is the war in Ukraine, which will continue to negatively impact the commodities market, especially oil.
"Right now, it’s kind of sunny, things are doing fine, everyone thinks the Fed can handle this," Dimon said, CNBC reported. "That hurricane is right out there, down the road, coming our way."
Anything else?
Last month, JPMorgan economists slashed their growth outlook for the second half of 2022 and 2023.
The bank had expected 3% growth in the second half of 2022, but lowered that expectation to just 2.4%, while the growth outlook for the first half of 2023 was lowered to 1.5% from 2.1% and the second half of 2023 was lowered to 1% from 1.4%. Ongoing economic woes were behind the tempered expectations.
Meanwhile, JPMorgan analysts warned just two weeks ago that Americans could be paying at least $6 per gallon of gas by August. The national average hit $4.67 per gallon on Wednesday, a new record.
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