President Donald Trump has filed a $5bn (£3.7bn) lawsuit towards America’s greatest financial institution JPMorgan Chase, accusing it of illegally closing his accounts for political causes.
The lawsuit, which additionally names the financial institution’s chief government Jamie Dimon, alleges that Trump and his companies suffered “considerable financial and reputational harm” after the financial institution abruptly closed their accounts in 2021.
The financial institution moved to shut the accounts after the 6 January, 2021 riot when Trump supporters descended on the US Capitol to disrupt formal ratification of the election outcomes.
A JPMorgan Chase spokesperson stated “the suit has no merit”.” “JPMC doesn’t shut accounts for political or spiritual causes.”
“We do shut accounts as a result of they create authorized or regulatory danger for the corporate,” 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 business apply that goals to coerce the general public to shift and re-align their political opinions”.
The filing alleges that the move was driven by “unsubstantiated, ‘woke’ beliefs that it wanted to distance itself from President Trump and his conservative political opinions”.
“In essence, JPMC debanked plaintiffs’ accounts as a result of it believed that the political tide in the meanwhile 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 household” 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 “guidelines and regulatory expectations” that often prompted the decisions.
“We have been asking each this administration and prior administrations to alter the foundations and laws that put us on this place, and we help the administration’s efforts to stop 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” amongst clients primarily based on their enterprise actions, with sectors akin to oil and fuel, personal prisons and grownup leisure going through restricted entry.
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