Trump sues JPMorgan, Jamie Dimon for $5 billion in Miami-Dade court
President Donald Trump is suing JPMorgan Chase Bank and its CEO Jamie Dimon for cutting off his bank accounts in 2021, alleging “political discrimination” and requesting $5 billion in damages, according to a lawsuit filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court Thursday.
The lawsuit accuses the bank and Dimon of “trade libel,” saying that the bank’s decision to “blacklist” Trump and his family companies led them to suffer and “continue to suffer overwhelming financial and reputational harm.”
On Feb. 19, 2021, the bank gave Trump and his companies a 60-day notice that several of their bank accounts would be closed, according to the lawsuit, resulting in a “devastating impact” on the companies’ reputations.
According to the complaint, the bank did not give Trump a reason for the decision, but Trump later learned he and his companies were “debanked as a result of political discrimination.” Trump teased the lawsuit in a post on his social media platform Truth Social Saturday.
“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,” Trump wrote.
Coral Gables attorney Alejandro Brito is representing Trump and the nine affiliated companies named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Trump is seeking a jury trial.
The lawsuit comes after Dimon publicly defended the independence of the Federal Reserve, as Trump has increasingly politicized the central bank. Trump has been fighting for the right to fire Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Lisa Cook in the Supreme Court and has publicly pressured Fed Chair Jerome Powell for months to lower interest rates.
In a statement, JPMorgan Chase said, “Our company does not close accounts for political or religious reasons. We do close accounts because they create legal or regulatory risk for the company.”
The bank indicated that it plans to fight the lawsuit in court: “While we regret President Trump has sued us, we believe the suit has no merit.”
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