According to Bloomberg, Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase (JPM), has surpassed his mentor Sanford Weill, former Citigroup (C) CEO, in legal costs.
Due to ongoing mortgage bond problems in addition to other legal woes, JPMorgan posted a $7.2 billion charge on Oct. 11. Meanwhile, Weill’s tenure at Citigroup left the bank with at least $5.5 billion in legal costs, which at the time was the most in history for a Wall Street firm.
Dimon’s reputation, burnished by more than $100 billion in profits and the rescue of failing lenders Bear Stearns Cos. and Washington Mutual Inc., has so far endured a $6.2 billion trading loss and accusations the firm manipulated U.S. power markets. Until his departure, Weill’s image also seemed to be immune to a series of scandals, according to Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit.
“Sandy Weill was the great architect who revived the American banking system and made it a global leader again,” Henning said. “And then all of a sudden it changes.”
