JPMorgan CEO Dimon refuses to answer questions from House committee

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon faced questions from the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday during a hearing titled Holding Megabanks Accountable, but an exchange with a Democratic committee member turned tense when the congressman didn't want to hear what Dimon had to say.

The March Politico report said Dimon was going to consider removing Russia from JPMorgan's ESG fund suite, which focuses on environmental, social and corporate governance. Sherman asked if JPMorgan had removed Russia from the fund suite.

Dimon was probably right. When asked if he could find out and get back to the committee, Dimon said, Happy to do it. Sherman pointed out that subsidiaries of U.S. corporations are not legally bound by them and that there is a loophole in U.S. sanctions on Russia. Sherman asked if Dimon would exploit that loophole, then asked if the company would cut its ties with Russian firm Gazprom and the independent oil trading company Vitol, which trades in Russian oil.

Dimon took issue with Sherman's question.

He said that he wouldn't call those loopholes, but before he could elaborate, Sherman cut him off and said he did not ask him to respond to my editorial, just the question about Russian companies.

We are following the instructions of the American government, as they asked us to do it, said Dimon.

Sherman said before the congressman stated that JPMorgan has not cut ties with those companies, it is a yes or no question.

He then asked a question, to which Dimon replied, No, we do not own a stake in SberBank, while noting that it is in a mutual fund somewhere. Sherman tried to move on to questioning another witness on the panel, but Dimon wanted to keep going.

Can I just add one other thing? He asked.

Sherman shot back, not on my time, you can't.

Dimon tried to keep going only for Sherman to yell, Reclaiming my time, Mr. Dimon. Committee chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif. backed him up, and Dimon remained silent.

Sherman said you can do a press conference afterwards and comment as you like.