President Donald Trump on Thursday filed a $5 billion lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase and its CEO, Jamie Dimon, accusing the banking giant of abruptly closing his accounts for “political” reasons after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The lawsuit, filed in Florida state court in Miami, alleges that JP Morgan “debanked” Trump and his businesses after his first term “because it believed that the political tide at the moment favored doing so.”
Who said what
Debanking, “once a relatively obscure issue in finance,” has “become a politically charged issue in recent years, with conservative politicians arguing that banks have discriminated against them,” The Associated Press said. Along with the account closures, Trump’s suit also claims that JPMorgan put him on a “blacklist,” The Wall Street Journal said, and that this alleged blacklisting was “personally approved by Dimon and led other banks to avoid working with the Trumps.”
A “number of companies shunned doing business” with Trump after his “most rabid supporters” stormed the Capitol, but “most businesses rushed to welcome him back” after he won in 2024, The New York Times said. Over the past year, Trump has “sought to settle old grievances” by suing or threatening lawsuits “against companies and individuals that he says have wronged him.” A similar Trump debanking lawsuit filed against Capital One last March is “still winding its way through the court system,” the AP said.
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JPMorgan said in a statement that Trump’s suit “has no merit,” but “we respect the president’s right to sue us and our right to defend ourselves.” The bank said it “does not close accounts for political or religious reasons,” but has to if they “create legal or regulatory risk for the company.” Trump is “demanding a jury trial,” Fox Business said.
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Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.
