Michigan Senator Critical of ‘Continuing Litany of Deception’ on Wall Street

Senator Carl Levin has some choice words for Wall Street.

A member of the Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations, which investigated JPMorgan’s huge trading loss in London, Mr. Levin pointed to what he saw as broader, deep-seated “cultural failures” on Wall Street.

Mr. Levin, a Democrat from Michigan, joined The New York Times Op-Ed columnist Joe Nocera for a 20-minute conversation at DealBook’s Opportunities for Tomorrow Conference on Tuesday.

Mr. Levin referred to what he called “a continuing litany of deception, false statements” and “conflicts of interest” by some of the world’s biggest financial institutions. Mr. Levin offered a list of examples, including tax shelter scandal in 2003 by the accounting firm KPMG, JPMorgan’s recent London “whale” trading loss and some of the trading practices that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis.

Mr. Levin, who leads the bipartisan group of lawmakers, defended new regulation and accountability that has resulted from the financial crisis. That includes Dodd-Frank, which Mr. Levin said he hoped would roll out more fully by the end of the year.

“In general, I think that the public feels that there has not been accountability at the top,” Mr. Levin said. “I share that feeling.”