CNN
By Chris Isidore, Matt Egan, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump is suing JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank, and its CEO Jamie Dimon, alleging it improperly dropped him as a client in 2021 for political reasons.
The suit in state court in Florida seeks $5 billion in damages.
The suit says that the bank notified Trump and his various businesses it was closing their banking accounts at the bank in February 2021, giving them 60 days notice before the closures went into effect.
The suit also charges that Trump, his family and various businesses were placed on a “blacklist” by JPMorgan “for any wealth management accounts that they have title to.” The suit alleges that placement on the blacklist was authorized by Dimon and that being placed on the blacklist led other banks not to deal with Trump and the other plaintiffs in the suit.
The suit is just the latest of a series of lawsuits filed by Trump against critics and perceived enemies seeking billions of dollars in damages, including against media companies such as CBS, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the BBC.
The suit also comes one day after Dimon, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, said that a proposal by Trump for a 10% cap on credit card interest rates “would be an economic disaster” because it would cut many American households off from access to credit.
The complaint argues that the bank failed to provide a reason for terminating the accounts, and Trump and his businesses “have subsequently learned that they were debanked as a result of political discrimination against President Trump, the Trump Organization, its affiliated entities, and/or the Trump family.”
The lawsuit also said that Trump reached out to Dimon directly about the accounts being closed and that Dimon assured Trump that he would get back to him to address the account closures, “but, ultimately, never did.”
JPMorgan Chase said the suit is without merit and it will fight it in court.
“While we regret President Trump has sued us, we believe the suit has no merit,” said Trish Wexler, spokeswoman for JPMorgan (JPM). “We respect the President’s right to sue us and our right to defend ourselves – that’s what courts are for.”
Wexler said JPMorgan does not close accounts for political or religious reasons.
“We do close accounts because they create legal or regulatory risk for the company,” Wexler said. “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 th