– Blythe Masters Withdraws From CFTC : Furious Twitter Backlash Blamed (ZeroHedge, Feb 7, 2014):
Following our post yesterday which included the occasional F-bomb and got well over 40K reads since its posting late last night, the reaction was sharp and severe. So severe in fact that less than 24 hours later, Blythe Master has withdrawn from the CFTC. The culprit for Masters’ resignation in just 24 hours? A very angry Twitter.
Blythe Masters, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s commodities head, withdrew from an advisory committee of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission a day after her appointment was disclosed, according to two people with direct knowledge of the decision.
The regulator may include another executive from New York-based JPMorgan on the committee, said one person close to the bank who requested anonymity because the move hasn’t been publicly announced. Masters, 44, withdrew because the company’s sale of its physical commodities unit will keep her occupied, the person said.
JPMorgan is selling a division that deals in assets such as metals and oil, as government watchdogs examine whether federally backed lenders should be involved in such markets. Masters’s appointment drew criticism from Twitter users who questioned the propriety of her advising the regulator of futures and swaps.
Masters, whose appointment was listed on the CFTC’s website yesterday, had been scheduled to participate in a Feb. 12 meeting to discuss cross-border guidance on rules. She was invited to the panel by acting Chairman Mark Wetjen, said one of the people.
Brian Marchiony, a JPMorgan spokesman, said the company had no comment.
Perhaps there is some justice in the world.
We do, however, have one question for Ms. Masters even though we understand she will be “very occupied due to the sale of JPM’s physical commodities unit”: does this premature resignation confirm that the allegations against the JPMorganite, who had so far been wrapped up in “neither admissions nor denials“, are in fact true and accurate?
And while we have her attention, can Ms. Masters also please advise what other markets she was manipulating?