As the recipient of $25 billion in funds from the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), JPMorgan Chase should be focusing on how and when it will pay back taxpayers’ money. Instead, ABC News reports that the bank plans to spend nearly $140 million on two new luxury Gulfstream jets and embark on a lavish renovation of a hangar at the Westchester Airport to house them.
The news comes on the heels of recent public outrage over TARP recipients allocating money to buy luxury items or pay corporate bonuses. Last week, criticism reached a boiling point after it was learned that American International Group (AIG), which has received more than $180 billion in bailout money from the U.S. government, handed out $165 million in employee bonuses.
In January, a firestorm of criticism forced Citigroup, also a recipient of billions in TARP funds, to abandon plans to purchase a $50 million French-made corporate jet for executives.