Former Bear Stearns CEO Alan Schwartz told CNBC Friday that the possible $11 billion number surrounding the JPMorgan mortgage settlement talks "doesn't feel like it makes sense, but it makes good headlines."
JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon met with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in Washington on Thursday to discuss a settlement to end investigations into sales of shoddy mortgage securities leading up to the 2008 financial crisis.
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Several of the probes stem from JPMorgan's purchase of Bear Stearns during the crisis, which was at the urging of the Federal Reserve.
"I don't know any of the details. I'm not privy to them," Schwartz, now executive chairman at Guggenheim Partners, said in a wide-ranging "Squawk Box" interview. "I think JPMorgan's a very well managed firm."
"I think that everybody, at different times, makes mistakes," he continued. "We're in an environment where there's a lot of value to regulators and officials to show they're really punishing people. And I think it's overdone."
Dimon's meeting with Holder follows talks over a possible $11 billion settlement with the government to settle federal and state mortgage investigations.
—By CNBC's Matthew J. Belvedere. Follow him on Twitter @Matt_SquawkCNBC. Wire services contributed to this report.