If JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon appears before the congressional investigation into his firm’s multi-billion-dollar trading loss, he will find a familiar, and perhaps friendly, face staring at him from across the room.

 

That’s because the Senate Banking Committee’s top staffer is Dwight Fettig, who used to lobby on behalf of JPMorgan Chase. Fettig is expected to help guide Senator Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota), the committee chairman, through the probe that will try to determine why the bank lost at least $2 billion in risky trades. As a partner in Porterfield, Lowenthal and Fettig, Fettig also represented the American Bankers Association and the National Association of Mortgage Bankers.

 

Although most of the news coverage to date has reported the loses to be about $2 billion, CNN Money revealed over the weekend that the hit may be much larger for JPMorgan Chase—upwards of $7 billion.

 

Johnson hired Fettig two years ago after the staff director represented numerous financial institutions while working as a lobbyist. Before that, Fettig served as Johnson’s legislative director, an example of the all-too-common “revolving door” that exists between Capitol Hill and the lobbying corps in Washington, DC.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

JPMorgan Chase Loss Only Going To Get Worse (by Maureen Farrell, CNN Money)

Former J.P. Morgan Lobbyist Manages The Banking Committee Expected To Investigate J.P. Morgan’s Trading Loss (by Lee Fang, Republic Report)