JPMorgan faces US inquiry into hiring of son of Chinese commerce minister
Gao Jue given job 'despite having poor interviews', US newspaper claims
The investment bank JPMorgan Chase & Co is under federal scrutiny in the United States over hiring the son of China's current commerce minister, the reported.
JPMorgan hired Gao Jue, son of Gao Hucheng, despite issues including a poor performance in job interviews, said the report, citing internal emails.
The decision to hire Gao was "widely understood" within the company to have been backed by William Daley, a senior executive at the time and a former US commerce secretary and White House chief of staff, it reported.
Daley worked at JPMorgan from 2004 to 2010 and reported to chief executive Jamie Dimon.
Gao started work in 2007 and now works at Goldman Sachs Group, the report said.
Gao Hucheng, minister since March 2013, offered to "go extra miles" for the investment bank if it spared his son during lay-offs, the report said.
US authorities were investigating the Asian hiring practices of JPMorgan and other banks, the report said.
Federal prosecutors viewed Gao Jue's hiring as a potential violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, it said, citing people with knowledge of the inquiry. The bank, Daley, Gao Hucheng and his son were not accused of any wrongdoing, the 's report said.
Gao Jue's name has not previously been reported in connection with the hiring inquiry, which JPMorgan disclosed in a 2013 regulatory filing.
A JPMorgan spokeswoman in Hong Kong yesterday declined to comment on the report.
The company had been cooperating with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US regulator, since 2013 on its hiring of certain former staff in Hong Kong and business relationships with certain clients, she said.
A Goldman Sachs spokesman also declined comment.
The Chinese commerce ministry was not a client of JPMorgan nor a banking regulator, but can rule on mergers among multinational companies that do business in China, the report said.
The US Justice Department and SEC are expected to reach a settlement with JPMorgan linked to anti-bribery laws; it may lead to a fine and an overhaul of its hiring practices, the report said.
Additional reporting by Sophie Yu
