President Donald Trump (left) and JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon.
Reuters
JP Morgan Chase He acknowledged for the first time that he closed the bank accounts of President Donald Trump and several of his companies in the political and legal fallout from the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. This is the latest development in the legal dispute surrounding the controversial ‘unbanking’ practice.
The admission was made public in a court filing this week in Trump’s lawsuit against the bank and its leader, Jamie Dimon. The president sued for $5 billion, alleging that his accounts were closed for political reasons and his business operations were disrupted.
“In February 2021, JPMorgan notified Plaintiffs that certain accounts maintained in JPMorgan’s CB and PB would be closed,” Dan Wilkening, JPMorgan’s former chief administrative officer, wrote in a court filing. “PB” and “CB” represent JPMorgan Private Bank and Commercial Bank.
JPMorgan has never acknowledged closing the president’s accounts and has offered only hypotheticals about when and why the bank would close the accounts.
Emails and text messages sent to a bank spokesperson were not returned.
Trump initially sued JPMorgan in Florida state court, where Trump currently resides. JPMorgan Chase is considering moving the case to New York, where its bank accounts are located and where until recently much of President Trump’s business activities were conducted.
President Trump accused the trade bank of defamation, and Dimon himself of violating Florida’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
In the original lawsuit, Mr. Trump claimed that he tried to raise the issue with Mr. Dimon privately after banks began closing his accounts, and that Mr. Dimon promised Mr. Trump that he would find out what was going on. The complaint alleges that Dimon failed to follow up with Trump.
Trump’s lawyers also claim that JPMorgan has put the president and his company on a reputational “blacklist” that JPMorgan and other banks are using to prevent customers from opening future accounts.
JPMorgan previously said it believed the lawsuit lacked merit.
Debanking occurs when a bank closes a customer’s account or refuses to do business with the customer in the form of a loan or other service. Once a relatively obscure issue in the financial world, bank abolishment has become a politically charged issue in recent years, with conservative politicians arguing that banks discriminate against banks and their related interests.
“In a devastating concession that proves President Trump’s entire argument, JPMorgan Chase has admitted that it unlawfully and intentionally debanked President Trump, his family, and his businesses, causing overwhelming financial harm,” the president’s lawyers said in a statement. “President Trump is standing up for all those who have had their bank accounts wrongfully taken away by JPMorgan Chase and its peers, and he will see this lawsuit reach a fair and appropriate conclusion.”
Debanking first became a national issue when conservatives accused the Obama administration of pressuring banks to stop expanding services to gun stores and payday lenders under Operation Choke Point.
President Trump and other prominent conservatives have claimed that banks blocked deposits from their accounts following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol based on the umbrella term “reputational risk.” Since President Trump returned to office, his banking regulators have moved to ban any bank from using “reputational risk” as a reason to deny service to a customer.
This is not the first time Trump has filed suit against a major bank for having his bank account removed. Trump Organization sues credit card giant capital one in March 2025 for similar reasons and allegations. The case is ongoing.
