Tricolor Auto Failure Follow-up: JPMorgan Takes a $170 Million Hit; Trump Disbands the Government’s DEI Agency that Was Involved

A few weeks ago I wrote about the failure of Tricolor Auto Group: “Tricolor Auto’s Failure Has It All : ESG, Woke Capital, Illegal Immigration, Securities Fraud, Government Diversity Programs, BlackRock, etc,”

The fallout continues, with a humbled Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, acknowledging the bank’s irresponsibility as it takes a $170 million hit for its involvement with Tricolor. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has just dismissed the entire staff of the woke agency that gave a federal imprimatur to Tricolor’s fraudulent operation.

A brief recap:

• Tricolor was a company that sold and financed cars, and it’s target market was Spanish-speaking illegal aliens.

• President Trump’s crackdown on illegal aliens not only caused a cessation of sales, but it pretty much brought an end to repayment on Tricolor’s loans, too.

• Money center banks such as JPMorgan had securitized about $2 billion of Tricolor’s very high risk loans. These securities (which are now nearly worthless) are much like the bundled, sub-prime mortgages from the 2008 financial crisis.

• JPMorgan and Fifth Third Bank also had outstanding lines of credit to Tricolor.

• The federal government under President Biden had given its seal of approval to Tricolor and its securities, certifying them as “social bonds” under the US Treasury’s CDFI program (“Community Development Financial Institution Fund”), because Tricolor’s customer base was “underserved communities,” primarily Spanish-speaking non-citizens.

• Tricolor was engaged in a massive fraud, with the same collateral pledged to multiple loans and securities.

• At the time of my original piece, Fifth Third had acknowledged a $200 million loss from Tricolor exposure. Since then, JPMorgan Chase has acknowledged that is it taking a huge loss.

JPMorgan’s quarterly loan charge-offs increased by almost $200 million in Q3 2025, which was almost exclusively due to one borrower – Tricolor. CEO Jamie Dimon had to acknowledge the bank’s irresponsible lending to Tricolor:

“Jamie Dimon Sees More Than One ‘Cockroach’ Likely After Tricolor Bust” [Bloomberg – 10/14/2025]

The dramatic collapse of subprime auto lender Tricolor Holdings hit JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s earnings in the third quarter, contributing a $170 million charge-off that led to the bank’s elevated credit-cost figure and sparking an ominous warning from Jamie Dimon. “When you see one cockroach, there are probably more,” the bank’s chief executive officer said on a conference call with analysts Tuesday. “Everyone should be forewarned on this one.”

If there are more cockroach loans like Tricolor that are about to blow up, it is not an economic indicator, rather it is an indicator that banks and investment houses abandoned their underwriting standards in pursuit of woke cred.

I’ll also argue that it’s not fair for Dimon to blame employees whose “discipline” was lax…

Dimon said on an earlier conference call with reporters that Tricolor marked a lapse for New York-based JPMorgan. ”It is not our finest moment,” he said. “When something like that happens, you can assume that we scour every issue, every universe, everything about how it could be taking place to make sure it doesn’t take place from here. You can never completely avoid these things, but the discipline is to look at it in cold light and go through every single little thing, which you can imagine we’ve already done.”

This is just my opinion, but I will state with a high level of confidence that plenty of lower-level analysts and underwriters at JPMorgan knew just how uncreditworthy Tricolor was, but senior management pressure for Community Reinvestment Act credits, woke bragging rights, government favor, etc., compelled every layer of credit approver to recommend approval for a lending facility that objectively should have been rejected.

But here’s some good news. Thanks to Senator Schumer’s shutdown of the federal government, President Trump was empowered to permanently dismiss the 100+ employees of the federal agency that had certified Tricolor as a government-favored DEI recipient.

“Trump Admin Fires Entire Agency In One Swift Move Amid Schumer Shutdown” [Daily Caller – 10/10/2025]

The entire staff at the Community Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI) received a layoff notice on Friday, an administration official confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The CDFI fund was targeted because the program illegally doled out awards based on race and espoused left-wing gender ideology and radical climate policies, according to the administration official.

The fund awarded $4.9 million to the “Local Initiatives Support Corporation,” which publishes material condemning “whiteness” in community development. It has also supported LGBTQ clinics that provide so-called “gender-affirming hormone therapy” to clients “of any age,” and granted $6.7 million to the Clearinghouse CDFI, which hosted a fashion show promoting transgenderism.

He’s Running

If I may circle back to JPMorgan Chase and Jamie Dimon for just a moment, I translate the following headline as reading, “Jamie Dimon Is Running for President in 2028”:

“JPMorgan Chase launches $1.5 trillion plan to bolster US economic and national security” [Fox Business – 10/13/2025]

JPMorgan Chase on Monday unveiled a sweeping $1.5 trillion, decade-long initiative to strengthen industries vital to America’s economic and national security.

The effort — dubbed the "Security and Resiliency Initiative" — will direct $1.5 trillion toward projects spanning energy, manufacturing and defense. As part of the plan, the financial giant will invest up to $10 billion in direct equity and venture capital to help select U.S.-based companies "enhance their growth, spur innovation and accelerate strategic manufacturing," the company said.

JPMorgan’s woke, globalist CEO is suddenly talking like an America-first MAGA voter…

"It has become painfully clear that the United States has allowed itself to become too reliant on unreliable sources of critical minerals, products and manufacturing – all of which are essential for our national security," JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said in a statement.

This also sounds very much like a presidential candidate:

"Our security is predicated on the strength and resiliency of America’s economy. America needs more speed and investment. It also needs to remove obstacles that stand in the way: excessive regulations, bureaucratic delay, partisan gridlock and an education system not aligned to the skills we need."

Will Jamie Dimon run for president as a Bill Clinton-style “New Democrat” nudging the party back toward the center, or will he run as a Republican and try to follow the same “famous businessman” lane that Trump took. Or maybe Dimon thinks he is the person who can finally run a successful Independent campaign, achieving what Ross Perot couldn’t.

As I have been documenting here over the years, Dimon enthusiastically embraced the DEI / ESG agenda, and was a passionate social justice warrior when that was in vogue. Now that left-wing corporations are out of favor with both the Trump administration and the public at large, Dimon seems to be de-transitioning from his role as a woke leftist.

Do I trust Dimon? Not at all. But do I think he can read the tea leaves and see which way the political winds are blowing? Certainly. Would he be a better President than Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, or Alexandria Ocasio Cortez ? Absolutely.

As for me, it doesn’t matter. My vote is going to JD Vance in 2028. Good luck, Mr. Dimon.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

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