Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Friday, July 13, 2012

Ann Darby, Wife Of New York Fed President, Gets $190,000 A Year From JPMorgan Chase

The relationship between JPMorgan Chase and its regulators is gaining a bit more attention these days.

Plenty of people have already registered their concern over the fact that Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan, sits on the board of directors at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, one of the bodies meant to act as a watchdog for the bank. But the ties don't end there.

Ann Darby, the wife of New York Fed president William Dudley, used to work at JPMorgan Chase, according to financial disclosure records for Dudley. And she's still getting deferred-income checks for the work she did there, to the tune of $190,000 a year.

A recent post by finance blogger Pam Martens, which ran at Martens's site and at AlterNet, flags the disclosure form in question, which was filed in January 2009.

The form, which was filed by two lawyers for the New York Fed, goes on to say that the payments to Darby "will wind down and cease in 2021," and that the lawyers are "in discussions with Mr. Dudley, representatives from the Board of Governors and JPMC" about the money.

"These interests would only give rise to a conflict in the event that Mr. Dudley were to work on a matter having a direct and predictable effect on JPMC’s ability or willingness to continue paying these amounts to Mr. Dudley’s spouse," the form states. "We hope to come back to you with an update on this issue in the near future to let you know how it has been resolved."

In an e-mailed statement, a spokesperson for the New York Fed told HuffPost that "[a]fter further discussions and analysis by the Bank's lawyers, it was agreed that Ms. Darby's fixed deferred compensation from her previous employer neither posed a conflict nor required a waiver."

Still, the fact that Darby gets regular checks from JPMorgan Chase while her husband presides over a major financial regulator underscores the trouble with regulating complex and interwoven financial institutions.

Senator Bernie Sanders and former financial regulator Elizabeth Warren, among other people, have criticized Dimon for remaining on the board of the New York Fed in the wake of JPMorgan's recent multibillion-dollar trading loss.

Original Article
Source: huffington post
Author: Alexander Eichler

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