Trump Sues JPMorgan Chase, Bank Says
Manya Saini /
REUTERS—U.S. President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase on accusations of debanking, the largest U.S. lender said in a statement on Thursday.
Trump’s attorney, Alejandro Brito, filed the $5 billion lawsuit Thursday morning in Florida state court in Miami on behalf of the president and several of his hospitality companies, a Fox Business report said.
“Despite claiming to hold these principles (the bank’s code of conduct) dear, JPMC violated them by unilaterally—and without warning or remedy—terminating several of Plaintiff’s bank accounts,” the lawsuit claims, according to the report.
Trump had said over the weekend he plans to sue JPMorgan sometime in the next two weeks for allegedly “debanking” him following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.
“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,” JPMorgan said in a statement.
“JPMC does not close accounts for political or religious reasons. We do close accounts because they create legal or regulatory risk for the company. We regret having to do so but often rules and regulatory expectations lead us to do so,” the bank added.
The White House said it will refer the matter to the president’s outside counsel. Reuters could not independently verify the report.
Last month, a U.S. banking regulator said the nine largest U.S. banks in the past had placed restrictions on providing financial services to some controversial industries in a practice commonly described as “debanking.”
Banks have faced growing political pressure in recent years, particularly from conservatives who argue that lenders have improperly adopted “woke” political positions and, in some cases, discriminated against certain industries such as firearms and fossil fuels.
That pressure has intensified during Trump’s second term, with the Republican president claiming in interviews that some banks refused to provide services to him and other conservatives. The banks have denied the allegation.