Fired federal investigators supported adviser's claim against JPMorgan

Fired federal investigators supported adviser's claim against JPMorgan

By Ann Marsh - Published December 09 2016, 8:03pm EST

Two former federal investigators say they supported a whistleblower claim by former wirehouse broker Johnny Burris about systematic product-pushing at JPMorgan Chase – that is, before they, like Burris, were fired.

Burris, now a registered investment adviser, lost his job after complaining that his employer pressured him to sell high-priced company products to elderly and unsuspecting clients. Three years later, JPMorgan admitted wrongdoing for engaging in a similar nationwide sales practice that caused "significant harm" to clients, according to the SEC.

Darrell Whitman, a former Department of Labor investigator who handled Burris' case in 2014, says "the evidence clearly supports a merit finding" of his case. A merit finding could force JPMorgan to rehire Burris and give him back pay and, possibly, other compensatory damages, according to whistleblower laws. But Whitman says he was fired from his position in the Whistleblower Protection Program at the DoL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration in May 2015 before the case was finalized.

'THE PROCESS IS BROKEN'

Susan Kamlet, a former assistant U.S. attorney in San Francisco who took over the OSHA investigation after Whitman's departure, says she found the evidence that Burris presented "extraordinary." But she, too, says she was fired, in January, before she could complete her investigation....


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