Jamie Dimon on Trump's debanking lawsuit: 'I'd be angry, too', but it has no merit
Andrew Harnik/AP
- JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said he understood why the president was angry over debanking.
- Trump alleged in a $5 billion lawsuit that JPMorgan shut down his accounts for political reasons.
- Dimon said the suit "has no merit," and that banks sometimes can't share why they shut down accounts.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said he can see why President Donald Trump is upset about having had his bank accounts closed years ago, an issue at the crux of the president's $5 billion lawsuit against the bank and Dimon himself.
"I agree with them. They have the right to be angry. I'd be angry, too," Dimon said when asked about the suit during a CNBC interview. "Why is a bank allowed to do that? But they're forced to do it."
Dimon reiterated that the suit, filed in Miami-Dade County court in January, "has no merit." In it, Trump alleged that JPMorgan shut down his accounts for political reasons in the wake of the January 6 riot at the Capitol. JPMorgan confirmed in a court filing last month that it closed accounts linked to Trump and some of his businesses, including hotels and housing developments, in February 2021.
"We don't do it, generally, for political, religious reasons, for other reasons, and sometimes we can't even tell those people," Dimon said on Monday. Sometimes, banks have to shutter them because customers aren't providing the necessary information about the source and use of their funds, and because the accounts cause general "legal and regulatory risk," he added.
Dimon predicted that the case could wind through the courts for years.
Trump has railed against banks allegedly denying conservatives services and signed an executive order in August aimed at eliminating "politicized" debanking. In the suit against JPMorgan, Trump claimed the bank closed his accounts because of "woke" beliefs and put him on a "blacklist" available to other banks.