Jill Brooke is reporting that JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon is now calling Wall Street firms and threatening them if they attempt to hire away curretn Bear Stearns employees. (The hed, btw is Ms. Brooke’s not mine).

He’s claiming that it’s “unpatriotic” to poach people before he fires them, and he also, “threatened to cut counter-party credit lines to firms that poach Bear stars before the transaction is completed”.

If I were on the jury, I would vote to acquit his murderer.

On a slightly more law abiding note, I believe that the Bear employees might have grounds for one hell of a class action lawsuit.