President Donald Trump filed a $5bn (£3.7bn) lawsuit against America’s biggest bank JPMorgan Chase, accusing it of illegally closing his accounts for political reasons.
The lawsuit, which also names the bank’s chief executive Jamie Dimon, alleges that Trump and his businesses suffered “considerable financial and reputational harm” after the bank abruptly closed their accounts in 2021.
The bank moved to close the accounts after the 6 January, 2021 riot when Trump supporters descended on the US Capitol to disrupt formal ratification of the election results.
A JPMorgan Chase spokesperson said “the suit has no merit”.” “JPMC does not close accounts for political or religious reasons.”
“We do close accounts because they create legal or regulatory risk for the company,” the bank added in a statement.
The lawsuit, which Trump said was coming over the weekend, is the latest clash between Trump and Dimon, who has led JPMorgan for two decades.
In recent weeks, Dimon has also spoken out against the administration’s proposal to cap credit cards and criticised its immigration policy and posture toward the Federal Reserve.
The complaint was filed in Florida, which bars banks from discriminating against clients for their political views.
In the lawsuit, a copy of which was obtained by the BBC’s US news partner CBS, Trump says JPMorgan’s decision to close his accounts was a “key indicator of a systemic, subversive industry practice that aims to coerce the public to shift and re-align their political views”.
The filing alleges that the move was driven by “unsubstantiated, ‘woke’ beliefs that it needed to distance itself from President Trump and his conservative political views”.
“In essence, JPMC debanked plaintiffs’ accounts because it believed that the political tide at the moment favored doing so,” it says.
Trump also accused the bank of trade libel over its decision to place his name, and that of his businesses “and/or family” on a “blacklist” – a roster that was shared with other banks and intended to identify people with a history of “malfeasant” activity.
That move was allegedly approved by Dimon himself.
In the aftermath of the Capitol riot, a number of companies had shunned doing business with the president.
In its statement on Thursday, JPMorgan said it regretted having to close accounts, but said it was “rules and regulatory expectations” that often prompted the decisions.
“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,” it said.
Debanking, or the process of closing accounts, has been a priority issue for Trump, who has publicly taken JPMorgan and other banks to task for the practice and ordered a review of their activities.
Last month, regulators said they had found nine of the country’s biggest banks made “inappropriate distinctions” among customers based on their business activities, with sectors such as oil and gas, private prisons and adult entertainment facing restricted access.
By BBC News
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