Levin Statement on JPMorgan Settlement

Press Release

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, today issued a statement calling the Justice Department's settlement with JPMorgan Chase "a step toward accountability for the Wall Street recklessness and excessive greed that devastated our economy."

Levin's subcommittee in 2011 issued a report on the anatomy of the financial crisis following a series of hearings on how shoddy mortgage lending and securitization, lax regulation, deficient credit-rating practices and investment bank misconduct contributed to the worst recession in decades. The subcommittee looked specifically at abusive lending and securitization practices at Washington Mutual, conduct that in part led to the Justice Department investigation and today's settlement.

The full text of Levin's statement:

"Today's settlement represents a step toward accountability for the Wall Street recklessness and excessive greed that devastated our economy. The abusive practices uncovered by our subcommittee investigation, including those at Washington Mutual, were breathtaking in their scope and devastating to American families. It is important that this settlement will provide significant relief to consumers and to areas hard hit by foreclosures. It is also important that the settlement does not preclude future criminal charges. This settlement can't put families back in homes they've lost or restore millions of lost jobs. But hopefully it will help deter financial institutions from engaging again in the kind of misconduct that contributed to the worst recession in decades."

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