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Fast Money & Foreign Objects
J.P. Morgan Emails Illuminate Hiring of China Official’s Son
- By
- EMILY GLAZER
- and
- J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.’s employment from 2007-2009 of the son of Chinese trade official Gao Hucheng. The article draws on emails seen by the Journal, including one in which a J.P. Morgan executive writes that Gao Hucheng—then a vice minister of commerce and now China’s commerce minister—said he would be “willing to go extra miles” for the bank if the son kept his job at J.P. Morgan amid layoffs in 2008. Below are that email and three other exchanges shedding light on the bank’s handling of its employment of the son, Gao Jue.
J.P. Morgan’s headquarters in New York.
Reuters
Gao Jue declined to comment through his current employer, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. His father didn’t respond to questions sent to the ministry of commerce.
The emails have come under scrutiny in a U.S. investigation of J.P. Morgan’s hiring, according to people briefed on the probe, and J.P. Morgan declined to comment on the investigation. J.P. Morgan has said in securities filings it is cooperating and responding to inquiries. Some names and contact information in the emails have been redacted.
In this email exchange from December 2006—after Gao Jue had accepted an offer to work at J.P. Morgan’s New York headquarters but before he started—bank recruiter Danielle Domingue expresses concern he isn’t well-qualified. Her comment was prompted by an inquiry from Li Ge, chairman and CEO of J.P. Morgan client WuXi PharmaTech Inc., asking if Gao Jue could start early. Read email exchange.
Brian Gu, a Hong Kong-based banker who relayed Mr. Li’s request, didn’t respond to requests for comment. A WuXi spokeswoman said Mr. Li didn’t recall making any unusual inquiries or efforts on Gao Jue’s behalf. Former J.P. Morgan executive William M. Daley, referred to in one email, declined to discuss J.P. Morgan’s Asia hiring practices. Some emails have been removed from this exchange for clarity.
In this exchange from June 2008, senior banker Fang Fang brings Gao Jue’s employment situation to the attention of J.P. Morgan Asia-Pacific head Gaby Abdelnour. Gao Jue’s job had been cut, and both he and his father requested Mr. Fang’s help in finding a new position at the bank. The father said he would be “willing to go extra miles to help JPM in whatever way we think he can,” according to Mr. Fang. Gao Jue was later given a new temporary position with the bank in New York. Mr. Abdelnour didn’t respond to requests for comment. Read email exchange.
Shortly after Gao Jue was given his new position, he was reprimanded for accidentally sending a sexually explicit email to a human-resources employee of the bank. His boss in his new position, Anil Bhalla, wrote that Gao Jue was thought by some to be irresponsible. Mr. Bhalla advocated that Mr. Gao’s temporary term of employment not be extended. In this March 2009 exchange with Mr. Fang, Gao Jue says he has been let go. While Mr. Fang appears to offer to help, Mr. Gao did in fact leave, moving on to work at other financial-services firms. Read email exchange.
While Gao Jue never rejoined J.P. Morgan, the bank appeared prepared to hire him again in the fall of 2010, this time in Hong Kong. Fu Chengyu, then chairman of China National Offshore Oil Corp., referred Gao Jue to the bank, according to an email from Hong Kong-based banker Frank Gong. In this exchange with colleagues, Mr. Fang says he supports hiring Gao Jue again, though a colleague says that Mr. Gao’s performance in New York was sub-par. Gao Jue didn’t respond to Hong Kong bankers who reached out to him for an interview. Mr. Gong, who recently said he plans to retire from the bank, declined to comment. The company Mr. Fu now heads, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., said he didn’t recognize the name Gao Jue. Read email exchange.
