President Donald Trump on Thursday filed a $5 billion lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase and its CEO Jamie Dimon, claiming that the bank improperly closed his accounts for political reasons.<\/p>\n
\u2018While we regret President Trump has sued us, we believe the suit has no merit,\u2019 a JPMorgan Chase spokesperson said. \u2018We respect the President\u2019s right to sue us and our right to defend ourselves \u2013 that\u2019s what courts are for.\u2019<\/p>\n
The suit accuses the bank of libel and breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. It also says the bank and its chief executive violated Florida trade practices laws. <\/p>\n
The suit says Trump held \u2018several\u2019 accounts at the firm which were closed. <\/p>\n
On Feb. 19, 2021, shortly after the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot, the bank notified Trump that the accounts would be closed within two months, the suit also says.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit adds to a still-growing list of legal efforts from Trump directed at a wide variety of institutions \u2014 from media outlets to tech platforms \u2014 many of which have resulted in multimillion-dollar settlements. The president\u2019s company, the Trump Organization, sued Capital One Bank last year over allegations of improper account closures. Capital One said at the time that the allegations have no merit.<\/p>\n
Dimon, as head of JPMorgan Chase, the nation\u2019s largest bank, is among the most influential people in the business world and someone who has been courted for years by Republicans and Democrats. In the run-up to the 2024 election, Trump falsely claimed that Dimon had endorsed him.<\/p>\n
Dimon has at times been critical of some Trump policies \u2014 most notably inflation \u2014 while supportive of others, including efforts to streamline the U.S. government.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Dimon criticized the Trump administration over its immigration policies. <\/p>\n
\u2018I don\u2019t like what I\u2019m seeing,\u2019 Dimon told attendees at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Dimon also said that while he doesn\u2019t agree with everything the administration does, he does agree with some of its economic policies.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Trump threatened the lawsuit in a Truth Social post. Over the weekend, JPMorgan Chase said it appreciated \u2018that this administration has moved to address political debanking and we support those efforts.\u2019<\/p>\n
Almost exactly one year ago, Trump used an address at the World Economic Forum to take a shot at JPMorgan and its competitor, Bank of America.<\/p>\n
\u2018I hope you start opening your bank to conservatives because many conservatives complain that the banks are not allowing them to do business,\u2019 Trump said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou and Jamie and everybody, I hope you\u2019re going to open your banks to conservatives because what you\u2019re doing is wrong,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
Bank of America said that it serves over 70 million consumers and does not close accounts for political reasons. JPMorgan says that it also serves tens of millions of accounts and likewise does not close accounts on political grounds.<\/p>\n
In an expletive-laden interview with CNBC last year, Trump vented his frustrations at big banks that close accounts for legal and regulatory reasons.<\/p>\n
\u2018I had JPMorgan Chase \u2014 I had hundreds of millions of dollars in cash,\u2019 Trump told the cable network on Aug. 5. \u2018I was loaded up with cash, and they told me, \u2018I\u2019m sorry, sir, we can\u2019t have you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump says he was informed he had 20 days to move his assets out of the bank. \u2018I said, \u2018You got to be kidding. I\u2019ve been with you for 35, 40 years,\u201d the president recounted.<\/p>\n
Trump said, \u2018then what happens is I call a Bank of America.\u2019 <\/p>\n
\u2018And they have zero interest,\u2019 he said. CEO Brian Moynihan \u2018was kissing my a\u2013 when I was president, and when I called him after I was president to deposit a billion dollars plus and a lot of other things \u2026 and he said, \u2018we can\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The JPMorgan Chase spokesperson said Thursday that the bank \u2018does not not close accounts for political or religious reasons. We do close accounts because they create legal or regulatory risk for the company.\u2019<\/p>\n
Trump was indicted multiple times after his first term in office. In 2024, he was indicted on charges that he conspired to defraud the United States, conspiracy to to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights.<\/p>\n
In recent years, banks have faced intense pressure from conservatives leveling \u2018debanking\u2019 claims against them. However, banks and their lobbying groups have long maintained that they do not close accounts for political or religious reasons, but they close accounts based primarily on legal or regulatory grounds. <\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s administration has sought to ease those regulations in order to make it harder for a bank to close a customer\u2019s account. In August, Trump signed an executive order which sought to end \u2018politicized or unlawful debanking activities.\u2019<\/p>\n
In September, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, one of the top banking regulators, began a review of banking rules to \u2018depoliticize the banking system.\u2019<\/p>\n\n
President Donald Trump on Thursday filed a $5 billion lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase and its CEO Jamie Dimon, claiming that the bank improperly closed his accounts for political reasons. \u2018While we regret President Trump has sued us, we believe the suit has no merit,\u2019 a JPMorgan Chase spokesperson said. \u2018We respect the President\u2019s right to <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":36748,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36747","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}