The US government is investigating JPMorgan Chase over an alleged “debanking” scandal after President Trump claimed the nation’s biggest bank was rejecting customers with conservative political ties.
In a quarterly filing on Wednesday, JPMorgan Chase revealed it is “responding to requests from government authorities and other external parties regarding, among other things, the firm’s policies and processes and the provision of services to customers and potential customers.”
JPMorgan claimed the probe is a response to Trump’s executive order in August demanding regulators look into policies that might have led to “politicized or unlawful debanking.”
Earlier in August, Trump accused JPMorgan and Bank of America of rejecting more than $1 million of his deposits for political reasons soon after he left the White House in 2021.
“I was loaded up with cash and they told me, ‘I’m sorry, sir, we can’t have you. You have 20 days to get out.’ I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding. I’ve been with you for 35, 40 years,’” Trump said, referring to JPMorgan.
First lady Melania Trump has also claimed her banking account was shuttered shortly after the Jan. 6 riots on the Capitol.
In January, Trump publicly blasted Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
“I hope you start opening your bank to conservatives, because many conservatives complain that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank,” Trump said by video call.
“And I don’t know if the regulators mandated that because of [President Joe] Biden or what…I hope you’re going to open your banks to conservatives, because what you’re doing is wrong.”
In its own quarterly report last week, Bank of America also said it is “responding to demands and requests regarding ‘fair access to banking’” following the executive order.
Bank of America declined to comment. JPMorgan did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
During the Biden administration, companies in certain industries, like cryptocurrency, and those supporting conservative causes, like the Second Amendment, claimed they were debanked for political reasons.
Bank lobby groups argued it was likely due to regulatory overreach in taking on so-called politically exposed persons as clients.
Over the summer, former Republican Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback alleged JPMorgan closed his account due to his conservative and religious views – a claim the bank denied.
Trump’s executive order means regulators are looking into concepts like “reputation risk,” a factor in accepting a new client that could prompt banks to turn customers away for political reasons.
In his order, Trump wrote that victims of debanking have “suffered frozen payrolls, debt and crushing interest, and other significant harms to their livelihoods, reputations, and financial well-being.”
Banks that have debanked customers may be subject to fines or other penalties from regulators, according to the order.
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