United States President Donald Trump is suing JPMorgan Chase and its Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon and seeking at least US$5 billion (A$7.3 billion) in damages for allegedly dropping him as a customer for political reasons.
The lawsuit, filed on 22 January in Miami-Dade County, Florida, alleges JPMorgan improperly closed bank accounts belonging to Trump, the Trump Organization, affiliated entities and members of his family following the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot.
Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform that the Wall Street Journal newspaper falsely reported he had offered Dimon the role of Federal Reserve Chairman.
“This statement is totally untrue, there was never such an offer and, in fact, I’ll be suing JPMorgan Chase over the next two weeks for incorrectly and inappropriately DEBANKING me after the January 6th Protest, a protest that turned out to be correct for those doing the protesting — The Election was RIGGED!,” Trump wrote in this post.
Trump claimed the bank’s actions were politically motivated and violated its own internal policies, according to media reports.
JPMorgan allegedly notified Trump and his businesses in February 2021 that it would close their accounts with 60 days’ notice, acting unilaterally, without warning or recourse and singling out Trump to align itself with shifting political and social sentiment.
“Plaintiffs also suffered extensive reputational harm by being forced to reach out to other financial institutions,” the filing said.
JPMorgan, the world’s largest publicly-traded bank, rejected the allegations, saying it closed accounts because they created legal or regulatory risk, not for political or religious reasons.
“While we regret President Trump has sued us, we believe the suit has no merit. We respect the President’s right to sue us and our right to defend ourselves,” the bank said in a statement.
The bank said it had asked successive U.S. governments to change the rules and regulations that put it in this position and supported the Trump administration’s efforts to prevent the weaponisation of the banking sector.
The lawsuit was filed by Trump’s Miami-based personal lawyer, Alejandro Brito, who has been involved in his defamation suits against media companies such as ABC News and the BBC.
The suit comes one day after Dimon said a proposal by Trump for a 10% cap on credit card interest rates “would be an economic disaster” because it would cut many American households off from access to credit.
JP Morgan shares (NYSE: JPM) closed $1.13 (0.37%) higher at $303.17 on Thursday (Friday AEDT), capitalising the bank at $833.56 billion.
