JPMorgan Chase acknowledged for the first time that it had closed the bank accounts of former US President Donald Trump and some of his companies. This acknowledgment comes against the backdrop of the political and legal repercussions of the events of January 6, 2021 that targeted the US Capitol building, and represents a new development in the legal dispute between Trump and the largest bank in the United States, in what is known as the “debanking” case.
This admission came in a legal document submitted this week as part of the lawsuit filed by Trump against the bank and its CEO, Jamie Dimon, demanding $5 billion in compensation, and accusing the bank of closing its accounts for political motives, which harmed its commercial activities.
In the legal document, Dan Wilkening, former chief administrative officer at JPMorgan, stated that “in February 2021, JPMorgan informed plaintiffs that certain accounts at its commercial bank and private bank would be closed.”
It is worth noting that the bank had never acknowledged in writing the closure of Trump’s accounts after the events of January 6, and had merely referred to cases that might require closing accounts, based on banking privacy laws.
A bank spokeswoman declined to provide any comments beyond what was contained in the legal documents submitted to the court.
Trump originally filed his lawsuit in a court in Florida, where he currently resides. The filings filed this week are part of JPMorgan’s attempt to move the case from state court to federal court, thus shifting jurisdiction to New York, where the bank accounts were located and where Trump ran most of his businesses until recently.
Trump accuses the bank of commercial defamation and violating unfair and deceptive trade practices laws at the state and federal levels.
This case revolves around the concept of “unbanking,” which is a practice in which a bank closes a customer’s accounts or refuses to provide them with financial services. This practice has become an issue with political dimensions in recent years, with conservative politicians accusing banks of discriminating against them and their interests.
