Crypto is for criminals? JPMorgan has been fined $39B and has its own token

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is being hauled over the hot coals on crypto X (Twitter) after claiming Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency’s “only true use case” is to facilitate crime.

“The only true use case for it is criminals, drug traffickers, money laundering, tax avoidance,” Dimon said in a hearing before the United States Banking Committee on Dec. 5. “If I were the government, I’d close it down.”

But crypto pundits quickly pointed out the seeming hypocrisy in Dimon’s statements, highlighting that JPMorgan is the second largest penalized bank, having paid $39.3 billion in fines across 272 violations since 2000, according to Good Jobs First’s violation tracker.

About $38 billion of these fines came under Dimon’s watch, who commenced as CEO in 2005.

“Talk about being a fucking hypocrite!” said crypto lawyer John Deaton in a Dec. 6 post on X. 

“Jamie Dimon is in no position to criticize Bitcoin with this sort of track record,” said VanEck strategy adviser Gabor Gurbacs, who noted that banks worldwide have paid $380 billion in fines this century.

Talk about being a fucking hypocrite! Who’s the criminal Jamie Dimon? Let me ask you a question: In the last 5 years when @jpmorgan has been FINED over THIRTY FIVE BILLION DOLLARS ($35,000,000,000) for illicit and fraudulent activities, did any of your staff use #Bitcoin or… https://t.co/DF2B4SkbwD

— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) December 6, 2023

The Dimon-led bank agreed to a $75 million settlement with the U.S. Virgin Islands in September over allegations that it enabled and financially benefitted from Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation between 2002 and 2005 — it should be noted that settlements aren’t admissions of guilt.

Ten years ago, the bank paid the largest fine in its corporate history at $13 billion in October 2013 for fraudulently misleading investors over “toxic” mortgage deals. Toxic Investments are ones that fall in value significantly, causing the market to collapse.

Several JPMorgan traders were also investigated for manipulating various metals futures markets between 2008 and 2016 and agreed to pay nearly $1 billion to settle the investigation in September 2020.

JPMorgan was also at the center of the largest cocaine bust in U.S. history when 20 tons or 18,140 kilograms of cocaine, worth $1.3 billion, was seized in July 2019 on a ship reportedly owned by a fund run by JPMorgan.

Jamie…