President Donald Trump sued JPMorgan Chase and its CEO, Jamie Dimon, on Thursday for closing his and related entities' accounts in early 2021 after decades of being customers of the bank, allegedly for political reasons.
The closures came on the heels of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol, and the president exiting the White House later that same month after his electoral loss to former President Joe Biden was confirmed.
Trump and the other plaintiffs in the case are seeking at least $5 billion in civil damages.
"Plaintiffs are confident that JPMC's unilateral decision came about as a result of political
and social motivations, and JPMC's unsubstantiated, 'woke' beliefs that it needed to distance
itself from President Trump and his conservative political views," the lawsuit alleges.
"In essence, JPMC debanked Plaintiffs' Accounts because it believed that the political tide at the moment favored doing so," says the suit, which was filed in state court in Miami-Dade County, Florida.
The suit says that JPMorgan's "reckless decision is leading a growing trend by financial institutions in
the United States of America to cut off a consumer's access to banking services if their political iews contradict with those of the financial institution."
JPMorgan, in a statement to CNBC, said, "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 - that's what courts are for," said the bank's spokeswoman, Patricia Wexler. "JPMC does not close accounts for political or religious reasons."
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"We do close accounts because they create legal or regulatory risk for the company. We regret having to do so but often rules and regulatory expectations lead us to do so," Wexler said.
"We have been asking both this Administration and prior administrations to change the rules and regulations that put us in this position, and we support the Administration's efforts to prevent the weaponization of the banking."
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