Tom Hals
Jan 24 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump filed a $5 billion lawsuit on Thursday against JPMorgan Chase & Co. and its chief executive, Jamie Dimon, saying it closed its accounts for political reasons.
Here’s a look at Trump’s claims and how the case is progressing:
Why did Trump file the lawsuit?
The largest U.S. banks closed the accounts of several Trump businesses in April 2021 because they had been customers for decades, according to Trump’s lawsuit. JPMorgan Chase informed Trump of the closure about a month after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Trump said the bank’s motives were political and that JPMorgan violated Florida laws prohibiting unfair trade practices and acted dishonestly.
Trump also accused Dimon of ordering the malicious release of a “blacklist” to warn other banks not to do business with the Trump Organization, Trump family members and Trump himself. Trump said publishing the blacklist amounted to trade libel under Florida law and said his business had suffered considerable financial and reputational damage as a result.
The lawsuit comes after Dimon criticized Trump’s immigration policies and proposals to cap interest rates on bank credit cards.
JPMorgan Chase has denied wrongdoing, saying the lawsuit has no legal basis and has closed accounts that pose legal or regulatory risks to the company.
What does Trump have to show to win?
The case will likely come down to whether Trump’s legal team can prove that the bank canceled the accounts because of his political views. Bank agreement terms tend to be very favorable to banks, banks are not required to provide reasons for closing accounts, and customers often have no idea why their accounts were terminated.
In this case, Trump said JPMorgan gave 60 days’ notice of closing the account but did not provide a reason.
Banks are required to monitor customers for a variety of potential risks, and customers whose accounts are closed for prohibited activities such as money laundering have no reason to challenge.
However, certain reasons for account termination may be considered unfair trade practices or bad faith, including closing accounts because of a customer’s religion or race.
Legal experts say canceling an account because of the account holder’s political views — something JPMorgan Chase says it won’t do — may not be allowed.
However, this may be legal if the account holder’s views are so extreme that they undermine trust in the bank. Trump may argue that his political views are mainstream because he just lost the November 2020 election, winning more than 70 million votes.
