JP Morgan stole from me, retaliated, and is trying to silence me and others
I performed for JP Morgan. JP Morgan repaid me by stealing from me. Let the truth be free.
Today, I filed an EEOC charge against JP Morgan. I never expected to do this, eighteen months after joining the firm to great fanfare and receiving a congratulatory call from CEO Jamie Dimon. Then, I went on to outperform my contract’s written goals. But in 30 years on Wall Street, I never experienced the kind of fear, discrimination, and retaliation in the workplace that I encountered at JP Morgan. They got what they wanted when they recruited me: my clients, over $1 billion in assets, millions of dollars of fees, and a senior woman who was publicly ranked as one of the top advisors in the country. My clients and colleagues saw it all — and I’m not the only woman the firm has targeted. That’s why today, I’m telling my story about JP Morgan’s toxic workplace and illegal retaliation so that justice can prevail and change can finally begin. It’s time to set the truth free.
Power silences the truth. The “outlast and defame” strategy.
I am the tip of the iceberg. I’m told I’m being targeted for retaliation to keep others quiet. I speak for many others who are afraid to speak. People from around the country have called me and begged me to depose them, in connection with my claims against JP Morgan.
JP Morgan thinks they can silence the truth because they are powerful. As the largest bank in the country, they have more money, resources, and “traditional media” power than me. Jamie Dimon has placed a bet the firm can outlast anyone. “I’d make a bet that we will last longer,” Dimon said about the Chinese government. Mr. Dimon has said that JP Morgan has lasted for 100 years and will last for another 100 years. Two hundred years of power is a long time to be above the law. Horrified clients have spoken out for me, even privately emailing Jamie Dimon, but to no avail. JP Morgan, the receiver of public bailouts and taxpayer money, has tried to use fear, intimidation, and financial manipulation to silence me. This “outlast and defame” mindset of JP Morgan is dangerous to everyone.
Who am I?
I am a financial advisor in the JP Morgan Wealth Management business. I joined the firm with a track record of 30 years of success. I have been recognized by Barron’s, Forbes, The Financial Times, and Working Mother for my work. I rose through the ranks at Goldman Sachs, UBS, and Merrill. I was grateful for the chance to work my way up the ladder, a long ladder and a long way from my family’s humble roots as fruit pickers. I recognize I’m in a position of privilege, and if I can’t step forward, who can? I work on a commission compensation system, and I’m responsible to find my own clients and build a business. Everyone in any commission system, in any firm, relies on the good faith of the company not to separate them from their clients with underhanded tactics. When a company takes away their clients with subterfuge or undermining, it decimates their ability to earn a living. I had the courage and resources to fight back. But, I have realized that JP Morgan’s power and public relations campaign is bigger than me. I never felt the need to file legal actions against any Wall Street firm, until I ran into the toxic culture at JP Morgan.
Why did I join?
I joined JP Morgan because they promised to serve my clients with their vast resources and that I would receive full access to the firm for my clients. They promised in writing and verbally that they would not compete with me and try to steal my own clients. The details are contained in my EEOC charge, but, in short, from my first day of employment I have experienced open misogyny and retaliation for speaking up, and senior executives across the firm have made it their mission to steal my clients and destroy my career. The discriminatory nature of this conduct has been perpetrated and acknowledged by the most senior executives, who have done nothing to curb the retaliation.
Even before I started working, the discrimination poisoned the well.
I was targeted because of my gender even before my first day. I learned from my colleague that my soon-to-be manager openly disparaged me by telling colleagues that he preferred to hire a male financial advisor, but was told he “had to hire a woman.” This statement robbed me of credibility and diminished my 30 years of accomplishments before I even walked through the door. It insulted not just me but those I’m humbled to call clients: all of the entrepreneurs, company founders, rock star hall-of-famers, CEOs, female billionaires, and New York Times bestselling authors who are intelligent, discerning, and self-described “tough graders”.
Mansplaining from the top on Week One.
In just my first week of employment, the CEO of U.S. Wealth Management conceded that senior male managers belittled me and were engaged in “mansplaining.” She further lamented the fact that JP Morgan continually failed to hire more female managers despite her repeated requests.
The Playbook.
From day one, I have also been subjected to “The Playbook,” as my manager openly calls it. The Playbook consists of blatant efforts to steal my clients and transfer their assets into different divisions of the firm in violation of written and oral agreements. Lending has been used as a tool against me to tie in clients and move them to the Private Bank. The clients have reported this to me directly, and I have reported it to senior management. Bank documents prove the Playbook exists. JP Morgan knew but fraudulently enticed me to join a firm where I would be subjected to theft from the Playbook.
How do I know? My clients are in a lending “noose,” but they’re not confused about what happened.
I witnessed the behavior firsthand, and I know because clients, colleagues, and other advisors have all told me. Clients were horrified. One client, after being offered a $50 million loan to move assets away from me to a man in the Private Bank, continued to watch JP Morgan’s attack on me unfold. He told me that the abuse reminded him of the movie Sleeping with the Enemy where a woman has to fake her own death to escape her abusive husband. The client lamented that he could not do more, because his neck was “in a noose” with JP Morgan’s loans. JP Morgan uses lending as a weapon to tie in clients and employees. Another client, a Chief Legal Officer of a public company, wrote to Jamie Dimon, and told him that she had witnessed retaliatory and discriminatory behavior and asked for it to stop. The clients were not confused. It did not stop.
Stole and called me “confused.” Women are not confused.
When I spoke up about improper behavior on JP Morgan’s block trading desk, the traders called me “confused.” On a call with five men, I asked them to stop calling me “confused.” After the call, the JP Morgan Private Wealth CEO, Phil Sieg, emailed me saying that I handled the attacks on the call “extremely well” and admitted that their remarks had been sexist and discriminatory towards women. In emails he later sent to me, Sieg acknowledged: “The ‘you are confused’ opening salvo was infuriating.” Sieg went on to say that “you certainly don’t need me or anyone to defend you but that was offensive.” Sieg is a Wall Street veteran with over 20 years at Merrill, and for him to call something offensive and put it in writing is serious. Sieg added that the behavior was sexist and the traders “[wanted] to hurt [me].” Despite Mr. Sieg’s admissions, I have been left to face retaliation on my own from the very people that Mr. Sieg said wanted to hurt me.
It’s time for a change. Twenty years ago, Bethany McLean exposed the corruption that helped to bring down Enron. But, first, she was called “confused.” Women are not confused. I am not confused.
Told I’m “confused,” “a nobody,” and to “be nice.”
JP Morgan systematically tried to attack my clients, bribe them with loans to move to other bankers, defamed me, and in cases where that was not enough, they are playing the long game by trying to force me out by slow-rolling my requests and taking away my resources needed to help clients. Since my hire, I have been berated and yelled at by men in senior leadership positions. I have been called “confused” and “unavailable” and told “be nice” and warned “bad things would happen to me” when I would not simply accede to the discrimination. In contrast, less competent men were judged on whether they were “good guys.” He is not “good at HR,” but he is a “good guy,” I was told. I have been hung up on, excluded from critical client meetings, undermined by denying me access to information and resources that I needed in order to service clients, and deprived of a reasonable work from home setup. After a year without regular tech access, JP Morgan conceded to set up my workstation…in my garage.
Not the only woman.
Another nationally-ranked female advisor told me how her clients were systematically stolen by the Private Bank. For her, it started with a few clients and continued on for years, until almost her entire client book was attacked and undermined. This is a nationally-ranked “Barron’s Top 100” advisor. She compared the attacks to coordinated and unrelenting “packs of wolves that work together to wear you down.” For her, the years of abuse have been demoralizing and undermining. Another colleague with insight into the lending process saw dishonest dealings across the bank in lending, all with the intent to undermine women. She too has been silenced.
Above the law. Too senior to be accountable.
I was told over and over again that the Private Bankers were close to the executive team, and in fact, they were part of the executive team, and that my managers did not want to challenge them to protect their own careers. They were “too senior” to be held accountable. The system of control is broken when people are “too senior to be accountable.”
A single mom and financial intimidation.
Now, JP Morgan is also trying to silence me through its lending practices, because they know I’m vulnerable as a single mom and the sole breadwinner for my children. They will stop at nothing. After I spoke out, JP Morgan began “reviewing a loan which was extended to me in connection with my joining the bank.” I was forced to house that loan with them. When I questioned the review, I was belittled in writing by JP Morgan’s counsel and told to read about the changes to “LIBOR” on Google, as if I were stupid. I know that changes to “LIBOR” is a spurious reason for “reviewing my loan.” None of my clients with LIBOR are having their loans reviewed. This “review” and the many, many incidents described in the EEOC report have taken a tremendous emotional and physical toll on me and my family.
Just leave, says Dimon.
Mr. Dimon recently suggested that women who are harassed should simply “leave” the job. Not only is this a terrible perspective on issues of discrimination and harassment, but for many women, leaving is not an option. I am a single mother raising two children with disabilities during a global pandemic. In addition, a significant portion of my compensation is tied up in a forgivable loan, and I was encouraged by the bank to take a mortgage that JP Morgan underwrote based on my future income. Because of JP Morgan’s attacks on me, my reputation has been irreparably harmed. Slinking away in the dark of night and abandoning my clients does not help the course of justice.
Why now?
So, why am I speaking out now? I gave JP Morgan every opportunity to fix this, raising my concerns in email and calls, time and again, but the bank has chosen to take an “outlast and defame” approach. JP Morgan has known about these incidents for over a year, because for more than a year I raised them to senior executives and HR, even through the firm’s Code of Conduct process. The bank’s “ongoing” investigation has lasted for over six months without any remedy or relief. In fact, the bank has intensified its efforts to force me out, hoping I will fold or clients will leave before others can speak. Meanwhile, I’m stripped of my ability to serve my clients, which further damages my reputation. I have been left with no choice but to file with the EEOC.
A Call for Justice
Where does it end? I hope it ends now with people coming together to say, it can be better. We do not have to live in fear. Since the internal systems are broken, it is up to you, the people who are reading my story. Clients are not confused. No one likes stealing. It’s illegal. Share the story. Free the words. Ask for justice.
YouTube, Dimon speaks on outlasting China:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMY3zLUYAdQ
YouTube, Dimon speaks on “just leave”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyEadGANbgM&t=1979s
