David Voreacos and Hannah Leavitt
Updated ,first published
President Donald Trump sued JPMorgan Chase & Co. and its billionaire chief executive officer, Jamie Dimon, for at least $US5 billion ($7.3 billion) over allegations that the lender stopped offering him and his businesses banking services for political reasons.
The complaint, filed on Thursday (US time), accuses the bank of trade libel and breach of implied covenant of good faith. It also claims Dimon violated Florida’s deceptive trade practices law. In response, the bank said it doesn’t close accounts for political or religious reasons.
Trump has singled out JPMorgan repeatedly in his push to stamp out what he sees as banks refusing to provide financial services to customers for ideological reasons. JPMorgan closed accounts for Trump and his businesses about seven weeks after the January 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol by his supporters. Trump was out of office then and his political standing was low.
JPMorgan, the biggest US bank, notified Trump, “without warning or provocation” that it was terminating the company’s accounts, causing significant financial and reputational harm, according to the complaint filed in Miami-Dade County state court. Bloomberg reviewed the complaint, which couldn’t immediately be found in court records.
The bank was motivated by its “woke” beliefs that it “needed to distance itself from President Trump and his conservative political views,” according to the complaint.
“In essence, JPMC debanked plaintiffs’ accounts because it believed that the political tide at the moment favoured doing so.”
JPMorgan said in a statement that the suit has no merit.
“We do close accounts because they create legal or regulatory risk for the company,” the New York-based bank said.
“We regret having to do so but often rules and regulatory expectations lead us to do so. We have been asking both this administration and prior administrations to change the rules and regulations that put us in this position, and we support the administration’s efforts to prevent the weaponisation of the banking sector.”
“While we regret President Trump has sued us, we believe the suit has no merit. We respect the President’s right to sue us and our right to defend ourselves.”
The bank disclosed in November that it’s facing reviews, investigations and legal proceedings tied to the Trump administration’s fight against “debanking.” Separately, the Trump Organisation has already sued Capital One Financial Corp. over similar allegations.
“Debanking is a matter of public interest and significant importance to all consumers and businesses in the United States of America — and JPMC, especially given its storied and leading history, is a central actor in this ongoing and troubling saga,” it said. Beyond closing accounts, JPMorgan placed Trump, the Trump Organisation and family members on a “blacklist” for wealth management accounts, according to the complaint.
Florida bars financial institutions from ending their banking relationship with an individual or business “based on their political opinions, speech or affiliations,” Trump’s lawyers said in the complaint.
The White House didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.
Trump began publicly criticising the country’s two largest banks over debanking almost as soon as he returned to office for his second term. A year ago, as he virtually addressed an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he chided Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan — one of a handful of executives on stage for the session — over the issue, and named JPMorgan as well.
The president has brought up the matter repeatedly since then. In August, he accused JPMorgan and Bank of America of rejecting his business, telling CNBC that JPMorgan asked him to close his accounts and Bank of America declined his attempt to deposit over $US1 billion there. Days later, he signed an executive order directing federal regulators to, among other things, identify financial institutions that engaged in unlawful “debanking” in the past.
