After calling for JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon to step down from his position on the board of the New York Federal Reserve, Simon Johnson, former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), launched a petition to have Dimon removed from the post. On Monday he delivered that petition, which in a month has garnered nearly 38,000 signatures, to senior staff at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
In a call with reporters, Johnson said that he was not optimistic over the possibility that Dimon would step down or be removed, nor was he optimistic over the state of affairs at the New York Fed.
No members of the board of governors, said Johnson, were available to meet with him "in any time frame" that was practical. Instead he met with Scott Alvarez, senior counsel, and Board Secretary Jennifer Johnson to deliver the petition. While it was a "very cordial and professional conversation" in the closed meeting, he said it presented "nothing that changed my lack of optimism."
"Frankly," Johnson said, "I think he should have stepped down in 2008 when JPMorgan acquired Bear Stearns" with financing assistance from the Fed. "I think, to any outsider with knowledge about best practices," he continued, "this looks like a related-party transaction," and typically such an appearance would result in a resignation from the board.
Now that Dimon and his firm "are under investigation for potential serious wrongdoing," he added, Dimon's continuance on the board at least offers the appearance of impropriety.
