Trump sues JPMorgan Chase over alleged debanking in $5b lawsuit: reports

US President Donald Trump has sued JPMorgan Chase and its CEO Jamie Dimon, according to reports, following through with threats after the banking giant allegedly denied him services.

The $5 billion lawsuit alleges the lender stopped offering President Trump and his businesses banking services for political reasons, according to a report from Bloomberg that cited court documents.

The US president over the weekend wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, that he would sue the bank after it “debanked” him.

The lawsuit comes as the Trump family pushes further into crypto. The president’s sons have claimed they had no choice but to use digital assets because of blacklisting by major lenders.

JPMorgan Chase said in a statement that the lawsuit has no merit and that the banking giant does not close client accounts for political or religious reasons. Trump’s lawyer did not immediately return DL News’ request for comment.

Trump family ventures

The Trump family — particularly sons Eric and Donald Jr. — have said that unfair banking practices pushed them into crypto.

“We got into crypto because we were debanked,” Donald Jr. said in a Fox News interview last year, adding that crypto was “absolutely the future of banking.”

The Trump family-backed crypto company World Liberty Financial claims it will “unlock financial access for all by replacing the limits of traditional banking.”

World Liberty Financial applied for a banking licence earlier this month in a bid to get its stablecoin used by institutions and retail investors.

Crypto proponents have long claimed that limited access to traditional financial services and banks will fuel the success of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. And many US-based digital asset firms claim to have struggled to maintain or open bank accounts in recent years.

President Trump’s campaign promises included an end to the Biden Administration’s crackdown on the crypto industry, which earned him backing from prominent digital asset entrepreneurs.

Since the Republican took office, he has introduced a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, appointed crypto-friendly regulators, and signed crypto-friendly legislation such as the Genius Act, which establishes a framework for regulating stablecoins.

Ahead of his inauguration, President Trump even debuted a memecoin, TRUMP, which has fallen 93% after briefly touching $73 per token.

The Trump Organization has already sued Capital One over alleged debanking. Eric had previously described the bank as “woke.”

Update, January 23: This story has been updated to add a statement from JPMorgan Chase.

Mathew Di Salvo is a news correspondent with DL News. Got a tip? Email at [email protected].