Salon.com wonders if JPMorgan Chase is the new Goldman Sachs, seizing the title of Most Vilified Bank, fairly or not.

"Stories about crooked bankers are a dime a dozen these days. After the credit crunch, the American public was inundated with reports of abuse, fraud, overleveraging and other malfeasance. When it comes to financial institutions, it's probably fair to say that our expectations have been lowered a bit. So what does a bank have to do to become universally despised these days? We may soon find out."

The catalyst for this was the lawsuit by Irving Picard, who is tasked with recovering assets from the epic Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme. He charged the bank with aiding and abetting the fraud, by willfully ignoring many indications of fraudulent activity.

These charges, whether true or not, might throw an even harsher spotlight on JPMorgan than the one on Goldman Sachs. The Madoff scam resonates more powerfully with the public than do either the Goldman CDO-related fraud charges or the AIG controversy.

JPMorgan certainly has some explaining to do. We'll see if any of this affects the bank's image; it may not. But the PR department needs to have a plan. It needs to be proactive in its response and learn from Goldman's mistakes. You do not want to let the world make you a poster child.

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