America is one weird place. Supposedly home of some of the world's most brilliant leaders, it's also the place for wackos, and that includes the ones dabbling in finance.
Yesterday I did a blog entry looking at how JP Morgan was ripping off municipalities, engaging in the kind of muni fraud where they conned local politicians to buy crappy interest swap deals that left the municipalities deep in debt.
The story gets even weirder now. JP Morgan's reputation is heading downhill with reports from the courts that self-ordained Reverend Bill Talen put a "holy hex" on JPMorgan, calling it America's largest financier of coal-mining mountaintop removal.
Courthouse News reports that he claims the bank helped destroy more than 450 Appalachian mountains, deforested 800 square miles and polluted more than 1,200 miles of streams. Accompanied by a choir, Talen and the singers dumped mounds of "sacred dirt" from Coal River Mountain, West Virginia" on the floors of ATM lobbies.
Courthouse News reports: "Rev. Billy told the NYPD officers taping his speech that he was leaving a message for JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon in a plastic Easter egg on top of the mound of sacred dirt. Talen said the message was that Dimon would be a 'beloved banker' – 'an oxymoron,' he added – if he stopped putting money into mountaintop removal. As Talen concluded his sermon, NYPD Officer William Svenstrup ordered him to withdraw his deposit of dirt from the bank floor. The Rev. Billy refused. 'Then you are coming with me,' Svenstrop said, while another officer took out the cuffs, and used them, and the choir chanted, 'Free speech! Free press! Free people! Repressed!' Then the choir sang the text of the First Amendment."
Of course, JP Morgan is no stranger to weirdness. It's all part of the bank's tradition. Check out this 1933 Time Magazine report where JP Morgan had a midget sit on his lap during a Senate investigation.
"One day while the committee was holding an executive session in another room, a female midget, Lya Graf of Ringling Bros. Circus, wriggled through the waiting crowd and headed straight for Banker Morgan. Leading the 21-in., 22-lb. creature in her gaudy blue satin dress was Charles Leef, assistant to famed Press-agent Dexter Fellows. 'Gangway!' Leef cried. 'The smallest lady in the world wants to meet the richest man in the world.' Before Banker Morgan knew it, Leef had plunked Lya Graf down on his lap. Newscameras went into frantic action. The spectators roared with amazed amusement. Banker Morgan grinned diffidently as he went through the act."
Maybe there is a business here. Someone can make money inviting people to put spells on the bankers. With the way US banks have been travelling, you can bet there will be queue. There's enough weirdos out there to make it work.
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