Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–October 25, 2012. America’s working families demand strong enforcement of our nation’s securities laws against allegations of bank wrongdoing. Law enforcement must get to the bottom of the fraudulent activity that spawned the Wall Street financial crisis. For this reason, the AFL-CIO strongly supports the ongoing law enforcement efforts of New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group established by President Barack Obama.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon recently said that he did the Federal Reserve a favor by buying Bear Stearns, and suggested that JPMorgan Chase shouldn’t be liable for alleged wrongdoing by Bear Stearns. Working families reject his claim. This purchase helped JPMorgan Chase grow to become the too-big-to-fail banking behemoth it is today, a merger made possible by the Federal Reserve lending $29 billion to remove risky assets from Bear Stearns.
JPMorgan Chase bought the assets and liabilities of Bear Stearns fair and square. Now the combined company must be held accountable for any fraudulent acts committed by Bear Stearns that led up to the Wall Street financial crisis. To excuse past wrongdoing at Bear Stearns will unjustly enrich the company’s new owner JPMorgan Chase and mean that nobody will be held accountable for Bear Stearns’ allegedly fraudulent acts.
Source: aflcio.org
