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Recently unsealed court filings reveal that JPMorgan Chase informed President Donald Trump in February 2021—roughly one month after the January breach of the U.S. Capitol—that it was shutting down his accounts.
The information surfaced in connection with a $5 billion lawsuit Trump filed against JPMorgan and its CEO, Jamie Dimon.
Late Friday, JPMorgan, the largest bank in the United States, acknowledged for the first time that it terminated more than 50 accounts tied to Trump in February 2021, shortly after the end of his first presidential term.
According to letters submitted to the court, the affected accounts covered Trump hotels, residential developments, and retail properties in Illinois, Florida, and New York. They also included Trump’s personal private banking account, which managed assets he inherited from his father.
The bank did not provide a specific explanation in those letters for closing the accounts.
In an unsigned letter dated Feb. 19, 2021, JPMorgan informed Trump that he would need to “find a more suitable institution with which to conduct business.”
The letter concluded with the line, “Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter” — wording often used by President Trump himself.
As reported by The New York Times, Trump has long argued that the closures were politically driven. A spokesperson for his legal team said the newly released filings amount to “a devastating concession that proves President Trump’s entire claim.”
“[JPMorgan] admitted to unlawfully and intentionally de-banking President Trump, his family, and his businesses, causing overwhelming financial harm,” the spokesperson said.
“President Trump is standing up for all those wrongly debanked by JPMorgan Chase and its cohorts, and will see this case to a just and proper conclusion,” the attorneys added.
Trump’s lawsuit, which names Jamie Dimon as a defendant, alleges that the bank effectively blacklisted him because it “needed to distance itself from President Trump and his conservative political views.”
The claim mirrors earlier accusations by Trump that Capital One closed his accounts and that Bank of America declined to accept billions of dollars in deposits following the Jan. 6 riots.
In an email response to The Epoch Times, JPMorgan said it intends to seek dismissal of the lawsuit.
“Plaintiffs’ threadbare allegations do not allege sufficient facts to plead a claim,” the bank stated.
The institution previously told The Epoch Times that the case “has no merit.”
“[JPMorgan Chase] does not close accounts for political or religious reasons,” the bank said earlier.
“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.”
Those remarks were issued days after Trump announced on social media that he planned to sue the bank.
Since then, Trump’s attorneys have argued in court filings that JPMorgan ended the accounts because of its “‘woke’ beliefs that it needed to distance itself from President Trump and his conservative political views.”
“In essence, [JPMorgan Chase] debanked Plaintiffs’ Accounts because it believed that the political tide at the moment favored doing so,” the lawsuit claims.
JPMorgan has also stated that it supports the Trump administration’s efforts to prevent the weaponization of the banking sector.
The legal battle is ongoing. Earlier this week, JPMorgan requested that the case be transferred from Florida state court—where Trump has previously secured favorable rulings—to federal court in New York.
