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The President of the United States, Donald Trump, filed a civil lawsuit for 5 billion dollars against JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the country, accusing the institution of excluding him from its services following the unrest that occurred at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, reported the agency EFE.
The legal action was filed by one of Trump's lawyers, Alejandro Brito, in a state court in Miami, Florida, on behalf of the president and several of his companies.
In this regard, the lawsuit claims that the bank unilaterally violated its own ethical and contractual principles by closing Trump’s accounts and his businesses without warning or an opportunity for defense, and that it did so for political reasons.
The document accuses JPMorgan of engaging in political discrimination against Trump, the Trump Organization, its affiliated entities, and the Trump family, as well as failing to provide a clear explanation for the reasons behind the account closures.
Official response from JPMorgan
According to EFE, a spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase responded in a statement: “While we regret that President Trump has sued us, we believe the lawsuit is without merit. We respect President Trump's right to sue us and our right to defend ourselves; that is what the courts are for.”
The bank also stated that it does not close accounts for political or religious reasons, but rather when it believes that the relationship with a client may pose legal or regulatory risks to the company.
"We regret having to do this," said the spokesperson, "but often regulatory rules and expectations force us to make difficult decisions. We have been asking both this administration and previous ones to change the regulations that put us in this position."
The spokesperson added that the entity supports the administration's efforts to prevent the banking sector from being used as a political weapon.
Context and motivations of Trump
Trump had already anticipated the lawsuit last Saturday through Truth Social, where he stated that JPMorgan closed or restricted his accounts following the events of January 6 and did so in an unfair and inappropriate manner.
In the same post, Trump also lashed out at The Wall Street Journal for attributing to him—without verification—a supposed offer to JPMorgan's chief, Jamie Dimon, to head the Federal Reserve or to be Secretary of the Treasury, calling those claims "completely false" and criticizing the media's fact-checking.
He insisted that the protest on January 6 "was justified for those who protested," and criticized the mechanisms that, in his view, are being used to "unseat him" unjustly from the financial system.
The center of the dispute
The lawsuit by Trump not only seeks monetary damages, but also aims to set a precedent regarding the contractual protection of individuals and companies against corporate decisions attributed to political motivations.
From the opposing side, legal experts anticipate that JPMorgan's defense will argue that the account closure decisions are based on strict regulatory frameworks that go beyond direct political influences.
The dispute now rests in the hands of the courts in Florida, where it will be determined whether the exclusion claimed by Trump constitutes a legal violation or, conversely, whether financial institutions have the discretion to terminate relationships when they deem it necessary for their risk management.
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