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JPMorganChase&Co Battling To Survive: Congressman Wants Them Investigated For Alleged Energy Charge Manipulation, Fed Judge Says It Must Face Lawsuit Over Jacking Up Fees On Delinquent Borrowers
by Monica Davis
You can run the legal gauntlet, but you can’t hide. That’s the verdict of a federal judge regarding JPMorganChase and a lawsuit over alleged profiteering on alleged unnecessary fees. And that’s on top of a congressman’s request for the Department Of Justice to investigate them on energy markets.
A California federal judge blocked the bank’s attempt to have fraud charges thrown out. Judge yvonne Gonzales Rogers rejected the banks attmpt to have those charges dismissed, but she did dismiss racketeering charges–for now. She ruled that the plaintiffs can refile those charges. MOREHERE
The relevant case is Ellis et al v. JPMorgan Chase & Co et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 12-03897.
Piling on the investigations, a Michigan congressman released a statement asking the Department of Justice to investigate the company for fraudulent overcharges.
Congressman Dan Kildee (MI-05) today wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice asking Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank, for alleged fraudulent schemes that resulted in $83 million in overcharges to Michigan and California for energy purchases.
Congressman Kildee’s letter comes after an article in The New York Times cited an unreleased Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) report alleging that JPMorgan, “under pressure to generate large profits,” deliberately used “manipulative schemes” to fraudulently overcharge both states in 2010 and 2011.
“The people of Michigan, and the American people generally, deserve a marketplace where all participants play by the same rules. I urge the U.S. Justice Department to resolve this matter by investigating these potentially illegal practices,” the letter reads.
“These latest allegations of JPMorgan Chase allegedly cheating Michigan taxpayers out of millions of dollars are disturbing,” Congressman Kildee said. “Irresponsible behavior in our financial markets is unacceptable, especially when it negatively impacts taxpayers. As we continue to recover from the greatest crisis since the Great Depression, the health of our economy depends on transparency and accountability in our markets.”
The fallout from the mortgage meltdown continues, some 7 years after the economy and the mortgage industry hit the skids.
