Trump sues Dimon, JPMorgan in $5B lawsuit

The world’s most powerful politician and Wall Street’s most powerful leader are headed into a multi-billion-dollar court standoff.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. closed President Doland Trump’s accounts and stopped offering banking services for seven weeks following the Jan. 6, 2001, Capitol riot.

It was, according to a new $5 billion lawsuit, because of “woke” political and social reasons.

A complaint filed Jan. 22 in a Florida state court alleges the nation’s largest bank debanked the president and several Trump businesses.

The suit also names JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon for allegedly violating Florida’s deceptive trade practices law.

The bank’s response? It doesn’t close bank accounts for political reasons.

What does debanking mean?

Debanking refers to financial services firms terminating banking services for customers or businesses, effectively denying them access to the financial system.

Common debanking reasons include:

• Increased perception of regulatory and compliance risks, such as money laundering violations.
• Operating in controversial businesses such as cannabis, cryptocurrency or adult entertainment.
• Increased concerns of reputational risk.
• Customer relationships that are unprofitable.
• Ideological or political reasons. 

Impact of debanking on customers

Individuals and businesses that are debanked face severe practical and financial challenges without bank accounts. 

They cannot:

• Pay bills.
• Receive payments.
• Have access to credit, which, for businesses, means the inability to issue payrolls or accept credit-card payments.

Customers will struggle to find banking alternatives, as being debanked by one institution can prompt other banks to follow suit.

“Once the bank shuts someone out, the bank may share that information with companies that get paid to maintain a 'do not bank' list with the result that the customer is blacklisted everywhere," Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, said in a Feb. 5, 2025 Senate hearing.

Trump targets debanking for ideological reasons

Trump repeatedly has singled out JPMorgan in his push to stamp out what he says are banks refusing to provide financial services to customers for ideological reasons. 

Bloomberg reported that the complaint, which has yet to be made public, alleges JPMorgan notified Trump, “without warning or provocation,” that it was terminating his company’s accounts, causing significant financial and reputational harm.

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The bank was motivated by its “woke” beliefs that it “needed to distance itself from President Trump and his conservative political views,” according to the complaint. “In essence, JPMC debanked plaintiffs’ accounts because it believed that the political tide at the moment favored doing so.”

The accounts had millions of dollars in them, the lawsuit said. 

JPMorgan responds to Trump’s $5 billion lawsuit

JPMorgan said in a statement that the suit has no merit:

• “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. 
• “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.”

The bank disclosed in November that it’s facing reviews, investigations and legal proceedings tied to the Trump administration’s fight against debanking. 

Analysts said JPMorgan would cite industry regulatory demands and make the argument “We don’t have choice.”

Trump wealth management accounts blacklisted: lawsuit

Beyond closing accounts, JPMorgan placed Trump, the Trump Organization and family members on a “blacklist” for wealth management accounts, according to the complaint.

Florida bars financial institutions from ending their banking relationship with an individual or business “based on their political opinions, speech or affiliations,” Trump’s lawyers said in the complaint.

Separately, the Trump Organization has sued Capital One Financial Corp. over similar allegations.

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