JPMorgan allegedly hired the children of important Chinese officials in order to gain favor when competing for important contracts, according to a new federal investigation.

The American bank, which has recently been mired in scandal after scandal, hired the son of a banking regulator, and then conveniently won some great assignments helping the company with a stock offering. In another case, the daughter of a railway official was hired by JPMorgan to work in its office, and then JPMorgan somehow won an insanely lucrative contract to help the railway go public.

While federal investigators haven't explicitly stated that JPMorgan hired the children of officials in order to win contracts, they have requested more information about the bank's hiring practices. Hiring the children of the wealthy Chinese families isn't uncommon for American companies, but hiring the children of well-connected officials at state-controlled companies is a new frontier.

Then again, this type of hiring practice isn't that uncommon among the higher echelons of American plutocracy. At least JP Morgan didn't name a 14-year-old to be on their board.