US quietly asks banks to keep some ties with Russia, even as Congress balks

JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon was in the hot seat.

Deep into a seven-hour congressional hearing on Sept. 21, Representative Brad Sherman, a Democrat from California, pressed Dimon on whether his bank would sever ties with Russian companies including energy giant Gazprom PJSC. 

Banks like Dimon’s, Sherman argued, were exploiting a sanctions loophole to keep doing business in Russia despite its invasion of Ukraine.

“We are following the instructions of the American government as they asked us to do it,” Dimon responded before Sherman cut him off, setting his sights on Citigroup Inc.’s Jane Fraser with a similar inquiry.