JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon Gets Massive Pay Package for Losing $2 Billion

Here's a question for you? How would you imagine one would go about picking up a $23 million pay package? What would you think you would have to do? The answer? Actually, it's simple. All you have to do is lose $2 billion. If that sounds daffy, whacky and kooky, take a look at the case of JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who managed to "misplace" the astronomical sum of $2 billion before being rewarded with the $23 million package after being approved by shareholders on Tuesday at the bank's annual meeting. All of which begs the question, what the hell do you have to do to annoy JP Morgan shareholders. One of the financial industry's greatest institutions, you would think that losing a huge sum of money might irk them a little. But no, Dimon got his cash and everybody's happy. Everyone, that is , except for the bank's chief investment officer, who is no longer with the company. "This should never have happened. I can't justify it. Unfortunately these mistakes were self-inflicted," Dimon told shareholders, while accepting the $23 mil. Self-inflicted is right. Not only that, but those shareholders have seen the JP Morgan stock drop 14% over the past five trading sessions. Even that didn't stop them dishing out the cash though. The $2 billion loss came about due to trades designed to hedge against risk, but they grew in size. That raised questions about the bank's interpretation of the Volcker rule, which aims to ban risky trading by banks for their own profit. On the surface, it certainly sounds like JP Morgan stretched the meaning of that law beyond recognition. Dimon himself admitted, "What this hedge morphed into violates our own principles in terms of complexity and risk." So with all of that mind, we ask again. What would Dimon have had to do exactly to not get that enormous pay package?