"Some members of the London team failed to value positions properly and in good faith, minimized reported and projected losses, and hid from me important information regarding the true risks of the book," said Drew, who spoke softly but firmly about her role in the debacle. Well DUH. And your risk mgmt process assumes they do?? YOU DESERVE TO LOSE. HAVE YOU HEARD OF NICK LEESON?? http://www.cnbc.com/id/100557851 Gotta love Wall St.
That's why they get paid so big - to absolve themselves of responsibility when the shit hits the fan. But if they win the coin flip on the toss, they deserve the bonus money.
In general, success of a trading manager at a bank is driven by their ability to appropriate the gains (even if their juniors made the money, it is always "their idea") but blame the losses on someone else (juniors, risk, systems etc). That's what "managing up" is all about.
Maybe they didn't compensate her enough to actually manage the group she was being paid to manage. They needed to pay her more or her talent would have left JPM for another bank.
Is she under oath? If she is, she should be charged for lying to Congress/obstructing justice, because every employee in her office knows how she managed trading. For example, one time a trader in her office approached her with a position that was losing a pretty big chunk of money. He asked permission to bail, but she said: No way, Jose (No, that trader's name is not Jose), hang on, wait for it to come back. And it DID come back and made over a billion profit. She basked in the praises of her traders for her right decision..... If you pit her traders (including the African American hired for diversity reasons) against her in a court of law, I am sure she will be exposed as a blatant liar! She is most likely responsible for the 6 billion loss. The only situation in which she is not responsible is that she had reported the losing position to the CEO Jamie Demon. Then the Demon IS responsible, because only the Demon could decide to hold the loser. After thought: But then Congressmen/women are mostly idiots, elected to represent the 47% and 2%. They have no idea that she is lying.