Filed by KOSU News in US News.
May 15, 2012

The Justice Department has begun looking into JPMorgan Chase’s $2 billion-and-counting loss from a hedge account, The Wall Street Journal reports. It cites “a person familiar with the matter” as its source.

The Journal adds that “the probe is at an early stage and it isn’t clear what possible legal violation federal investigators may be focusing on.”

The Securities and Exchange Commission is already conducting its own probe into the bank’s billion dollar blunder.

Meanwhile, at JPMorgan’s annual shareholder meeting today in Tampa, CEO Jamie Dimon “survived a shareholder push … to strip him of the title of chairman of the board,” The Associated Press reports, and “won a shareholder endorsement of his pay package from last year, which totaled $23 million.”

During the meeting, Dimon said the trading loss, “should never have happened. I can’t justify it. Unfortunately these mistakes were self-inflicted.” He pledged to learn from the mistakes “and fix them.”

Update at 12:35 p.m. ET. Reuters Says New York Office Of The FBI Is Leading The Probe:

“The New York office of the FBI has opened an investigation into JPMorgan Chase & Co’s $2 billion trading loss, a source familiar with the probe said on Tuesday. The source, who requested anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said the probe was in a ‘preliminary’ stage.” [Copyright 2012 National Public Radio]