President Donald Trump is taking America’s biggest bank and its high-profile CEO to court.
Trump is suing JPMorgan Chase and its CEO, Jamie Dimon, for at least $5 billion over claims of politically motivated debanking on Thursday, making good on his threats from a Truth Social post over the weekend. In a complaint filed in Miami-Dade County state court, Trump accused JPMorgan of trade libel, among other claims, and Dimon of unfair and deceptive trade practices.
In his weekend Truth Social post, Trump said that he planned to sue JPMorgan for “incorrectly and inappropriately DEBANKING me after the January 6th Protest.”
The bank said that “the suit has no merit” 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,” the statement said. “We regret having to do so but often rules and regulatory expectations lead us to do so.”
The firm said it has repeatedly asked current and previous administrations to update the regulations “that put us in this position” and backs efforts to prevent the politicization of banking.
Blacklists and “woke” beliefs
The lawsuit claims that JPMorgan unlawfully “debanked” Trump, his companies, and even members of his family shortly after Trump left the White House in January 2021.
The suit said JPMorgan notified them on February 19, 2021, that their accounts would be closed and their relationships with the bank “terminated by April 19, 2021.”
No reason was given, they said, and Trump personally called Dimon to complain.
“Dimon assured President Trump that he would get back to him to address JPMC’s debanking of Plaintiffs’ Accounts but, ultimately, never did,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said JPMorgan never provided a reason for parting ways, forcing Trump and his businesses to scramble to find new banking relations and hindering their business transactions.
Ultimately, the suit argues that JPMorgan’s decision to close Trump’s accounts came from the bank’s “unsubstantiated, ‘woke’ beliefs that it needed to distance itself from President Trump and his conservative political views.”
The suit also claims that the bank put Trump, the Trump Organization, affiliated entities, and the Trump family on a “blacklist” available to other banks. It mentioned the word “blacklist” 24 times, and claimed that Dimon “authorized” the addition of Trump and his affiliates’ names to the blacklist.
Trump escalates the debanking fight
Trump has previously claimed that some big banks deny services to conservatives, telling CNBC in August that JPMorgan and Bank of America had previously refused to accept his deposits. In August, the president signed an executive order directing federal banking regulators to eliminate guidance that encourages what he deems “politicized” or “unlawful” debanking.
The order instructs some federal regulators and agencies to “make reasonable efforts” to reinstate debanked customers, and the Treasury Department to develop new regulations to prevent “unlawful” debanking.
The Trump Organization has sued Capital One over similar debanking claims.
Before Trump began his second term, well-known venture capitalist Marc Andreessen said that banks had cut off banking services for dozens of tech founders under former President Joe Biden.
Trump’s suit comes after a flurry of recent proposals that could impact Wall Street, including a proposed 10% cap on credit card interest rates for 1 year and an effort to limit large investors’ ability to buy single-family homes.
