President Trump has followed through on his threat to sue JPMorgan Chase and CEO Jamie Dimon for $5 billion, accusing the nation’s largest bank of politically motivated “debanking” after Jan. 6.
The suit, filed Thursday in Florida state court in Miami, claims JPMorgan severed Trump’s banking ties in early 2021 for political reasons, abruptly closing multiple accounts tied to the president and his businesses after a decades-long relationship.
“JPMC debanked [Trump and his businesses] because it believed that the political tide at the moment favored doing so,” the lawsuit said.
Trump’s attorney, Alejandro Brito, alleges the bank acted “without warning or remedy,” giving Trump and his affiliated entities just weeks to move hundreds of millions of dollars and providing no recourse, a decision that the lawsuit says violated JPMorgan’s own code of conduct and amounted to unfair and deceptive trade practices.
“We set high expectations and hold ourselves accountable. We do the right thing — not necessarily the easy or expedient thing. We abide by the letter and spirit of the laws and regulations everywhere we do business and have zero tolerance for unethical behavior,” the lawsuit states, citing the bank’s code of conduct.
“Despite claiming to hold these principles dear, JPMC violated them by unilaterally — and without warning or remedy — terminating several of Plaintiff’s bank accounts,” the lawsuit claims.
The filing alleges that JPMorgan’s decision was driven by what it calls “political and social motivations,” accusing the bank of seeking to distance itself from Trump and his conservative views in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
The lawsuit further claims JPMorgan placed Trump, his family and affiliated businesses on an internal “blacklist” shared with other federally regulated banks, an allegation the filing says led other financial institutions to refuse to do business with him and caused significant financial and reputational harm.
“Given that Plaintiffs have always complied with all applicable banking rules and regulations and their wealth management accounts were in good standing, JPMC’s publication of President Trump, the other Plaintiffs, the Trump Organization and its affiliated entities, and/or the Trump family’s names on this blacklist, is an intentional and malicious falsehood,” the lawsuit states.
Trump is alleging that JPMorgan Chase engaged in “an unfair and deceptive trade practice” by directing the publication of the names to the list, noting that the bank “had no legitimate basis to do so and knew that doing so would induce, and did in fact induce, other banking institutions not to deal with them.”
A JPMorgan spokesperson told The Post: “JPMC does not close accounts for political or religious reasons. 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,” the spokesperson added.
“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 sector.”
Trump’s relationship with JPMorgan has deteriorated sharply amid overlapping political, regulatory and personal disputes.
The lawsuit follows months of friction, including Dimon’s public criticism of some Trump administration policies — most notably his warning that the Justice Department’s criminal probe into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell risks undermining the central bank’s independence and could backfire by pushing interest rates higher.
JPMorgan has also pushed back against a White House proposal to cap credit card interest rates at 10% for a year, with bank executives warning the move could restrict access to credit, hurt consumers and disrupt the financial system.
Tensions spilled into the open again after Dimon criticized Trump’s immigration crackdown at the World Economic Forum in Davos, calling for calmer rhetoric and questioning aggressive ICE enforcement tactics — remarks that marked one of the most direct rebukes of the president by a sitting Wall Street CEO.
Trump has not been shy about wielding the threat of litigation against his perceived adversaries.
The president has reached settlements with Paramount, Disney’s ABC News, YouTube and Meta, stemming from disputes over interviews, on-air statements and the suspension of Trump’s social media accounts after Jan. 6.
Those cases were resolved without admissions of wrongdoing, as companies opted to pay tens of millions of dollars rather than face prolonged courtroom battles.
The Post has sought comment from the White House.
