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Jamie Dimon greeted by hecklers as testimony begins

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WASHINGTON --Theatrics for Jamie Dimon’s day on Capitol Hill began according to the script for high-profile Washington hearings, with requisite heckling from protesters.

As the chairman and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co. arrived to take his seat at a Senate Banking Committee hearing, a man in a brown blazer began shouting at Dimon as a crush of photographers snapped away.

“Jamie Dimon’s a crook,” the man yelled, as Dimon appeared unfazed. “This guy should be going to prison.”

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After he quieted down, Capitol police allowed the man to take his seat, as senators and spectators entered the hearing room.

Shortly thereafter, a chant erupted -- “Stop foreclosures now!” -- among some protesters, including the earlier heckler. Capitol police then removed them.

The topic of the day, of course, is not JPMorgan’s loan servicing but its risk management -- and how the bank sustained a more than $2-billion loss in risky derivatives trades.

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Opening statements by the panel’s chairman, Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), and ranking member Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) hinted at what questions Dimon faces in the two-hour hearing.

“First, did the losses from these trades threaten the safety and soundness of JPMorgan?” Shelby said. “And second, could it happen again?”

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