JPMorgan Chase & Co. says that it’s probing the role of some employees who may have enabled misuse of Covid-relief funds in what it calls potentially illegal activities, Bloomberg News reported. The New York-based bank said that it has seen “instances of customers misusing Paycheck Protection Program Loans, unemployment benefits and other government programs” and that some “employees have fallen short, too,” according to a memo to staff yesterday from the bank’s senior leaders. The firm said that the conduct doesn’t meet its principles “and may even be illegal.” “We are doing all we can to identify those instances and cooperating with law enforcement where appropriate,” according to the memo. The bank asked workers to report any conduct that violates its policies. JPMorgan’s investigation could be another sign that misconduct around the slew of coronavirus relief programs went beyond the scattered individual borrowers who have been charged with fraud. A congressional report last week raised red flags on more than $1 billion of loans in the Small Business Administration’s PPP program. JPMorgan was the biggest lender in that effort, which offered a lifeline to businesses reeling from shutdowns tied to the pandemic but has caused headaches for banks. The $669 billion program was the centerpiece of the federal coronavirus relief package enacted in March and allowed small businesses to apply for a loans of as much as $10 million each.
