JP Morgan Chase and the Justice Department reached a settlement for $13 billion this week to resolve allegations that the bank knowingly sold faulty mortgage securities, behavior that contributed to the nation’s financial meltdown. It is the largest penalty ever paid to the government by a single company. Among the funds to be paid out are $4 billion worth of aid to distressed homeowners.
Al Jazeera America’s Ali Velshi broke down where the money is going on NewsOne Now with Roland Martin (the Wall Street Journal has a detailed breakdown too). Velshi also explained why it has been so hard to hold banks accountable for their actions in the years before the financial crisis. “These cases are very hard largely because in many cases laws are not broken; the regulations are just not good,” he said.
However, this settlement is a sign of things to come, Velshi suggested. “The bottom line is, it does appear that the Attorney General and the Securities and Exchange Commission have become much, much more aggressive, and we’ve yet to see if we’ll see any more prosecutions of other banks. But they all did the same things. So if you’ve got JP Morgan on this, can you go after Bank of America? Can you go after Citigroup?”
Hear more in the clip below.
Be sure to tune in to NewsOne Now with Roland Martin, weekdays at 7 a.m. EST.
