Donald Trump is suing banking giant JPMorgan Chase and its CEO Jamie Dimon for 5 billion dollars (£4bn), accusing the firm of debanking him and his businesses for political reasons after he was voted out of office in January 2021.
The lawsuit, filed in Miami-Dade County court in Florida, alleges that JPMorgan abruptly closed multiple accounts in February 2021 with just 60 days notice and no explanation.
By doing so, Mr Trump claims JPMorgan cut the ex-president and his businesses off from millions of dollars, disrupted their operations and forced the Republican to urgently open bank accounts elsewhere.
“JPMC debanked (Trump and his businesses) because it believed that the political tide at the moment favoured doing so,” the lawsuit alleges.
In a statement, JPMorgan said that it “regrets” that Mr Trump sued them but insisted they did not close the accounts for political reasons.
“We believe the suit has no merit,” a bank spokesperson said. “JPMC does not close accounts for political or religious reasons. We do close accounts because they create legal or regulatory risk for the company.”