Trump alleged in his lawsuit that the bank JPMorgan refused to service him in 2021 for political reasons. The New York Post reported that Biden, among others, prompted the banks to cease serving Trump following the Capitol storming.
United States President Donald Trump has filed a $5 billion lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase and its CEO, Jamie Dimon, alleging the company terminated banking services for him and his businesses in 2021 based on political grounds. This information is reported by CNN and Bloomberg.
The lawsuit claims that in February 2021, JPMorgan Chase notified Trump and his companies about the closure of their accounts, granting them a 60-day preparation period. According to the filing, the bank also blacklisted Trump, his family members, and associated enterprises, denying them access to asset management services. The plaintiff asserts these actions were greenlit by bank head Dimon and resulted in other financial institutions also ceasing cooperation with them.
The suit suggests the bank acted based on its “progressive” ideology, which compelled it to “need to distance itself from President Trump and his conservative political stances,” as relayed by Bloomberg.
This legal action, CNN notes, is part of a series of lawsuits initiated by Trump against critics and media organizations, including CBS, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the BBC, demanding billions in damages.
The suit was filed the day after Dimon, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, criticized Trump’s proposal to cap credit card interest rates at 10%, labeling it a potential “economic catastrophe” that would cut off credit access for millions of Americans, according to CNN.
In early November, the U.S. government launched an investigation against JPMorgan Chase, initiated by Trump. The inquiry focused on whether the bank provided fair access to financial services for its clientele. At the time, JPMorgan linked these developments to Trump’s August executive order revising banking policies, which could lead to client refusals citing “reputational risks.” This order mandates regulators to eliminate such risks from their guidelines and training materials, and to identify and penalize financial institutions previously engaging in unlawful “debanking.”
The White House stated then, “President Trump believes no American should be denied access to financial services based on their political or religious beliefs, and that banks must make decisions solely based on individualized, objective, and risk-assessment-based analysis.”
In August, Trump disclosed that, in addition to JPMorgan, Bank of America also refused to serve him in 2021. According to the New York Post, pressure was exerted on the banks by the Joe Biden administration, the Federal Reserve, and other financial regulators due to the scandal surrounding the January 6th Capitol attack.
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