JPMorgan’s Total $20 Billion Legal Bill – A Great Indicator

JPMorgan’s Total $20 Billion Legal Bill – A Great Indicator (NYTimes.com)

Management at the world’s largest bank – JPMorgan Chase & Co. – had to have thought the worst of it was behind them, as the world turned the page on 2013.  Not so much.  After a year in which the New-York-based company paid out billions in fines, fees and litigation costs, they start off 2014 right back in the same position – almost.  The bank’s planning to reach a $2 billion agreement with the U.S. government to pay criminal and civil awards for failing to recognize and stop the actions of Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.  Once this next $2 billion flies out the door, that will bring the JPMorgan total to more than $20 billion paid in legal wranglings over the past 12 months.  Yet, you’d never know it by the share price, as it’s risen almost 25 percent this year alone.  I don’t know about you, but if another huge suit comes out against the bank, I may pile into its shares.