FBI Offers Reward in Probe of JPMorgan Threat Letters (Update1)
By Jeff Bliss
Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- The FBI posted a $100,000 reward and released the text of threatening letters sent to more than 50 offices of JPMorgan Chase & Co., the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of Thrift Supervision in 11 states, aiming to enlist public help in solving the case.
The letters, filled with a white powder that has so far proved harmless, began turning up on Oct. 20, prompting the federal probe, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said on its Web site today. All were postmarked Amarillo, Texas.
One letter said JPMorgan stole ``tens of thousands of people's money,'' according to the FBI, citing a letter sent to a branch in Lakewood, Colorado. ``It's payback time. What you just breathed in will kill you within 10 days.''
Mailing a threatening letter, with or without powder, is a ``serious crime,'' said the FBI. Field tests show the powder wasn't lethal, and more tests are pending.
``People who have mailed these kinds of hoax letters in the past have received some serious jail time,'' FBI spokesman Richard Kolko wrote on the Web site.
JPMorgan branches in Colorado, Oklahoma, New Jersey and Arizona received letters, said Tom Kelly, a spokesman in Chicago for the New York-based bank. ``We are working with the FBI and postal service investigators,'' he said.
Letters were sent to several OTS offices throughout the country, said OTS spokeswoman Janet Frank. ``It was a hoax,'' she said. The OTS oversees thrifts including Washington Mutual Inc., the bankrupt lender taken over last month by JPMorgan.
The FDIC received the letters at its Arlington, Virginia headquarters and Dallas regional office, spokesman David Barr said. They were discovered during security screening at both facilities, he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jeff Bliss in Washington http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... c&refer=us (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=agHH3ZhMfimc&refer=us)
Perhaps the white powder was nose candy for the JP Execs who must be running short of the stuff these days.
Instead of beating down the corpse (mainstreet) the FBI should be investigating the theft of billions from the people.