(Bloomberg) - JPMorgan Chase & Co. said President Donald Trump improperly named the bank’s chief executive officer, Jamie Dimon, as a defendant in his lawsuit over closure of his accounts in order to file the case in Florida state court.
In a Thursday court filing, the bank sought to move the case to federal court in Miami and said it would eventually seek to transfer it to New York. JPMorgan said Trump’s allegation that Dimon directed the bank to put Trump and his businesses on a “blacklist” was not permitted under the Florida statute cited by the president.
The bank said Florida’s unfair trade practices law didn’t apply to its CEO because he was “closely and comprehensively regulated by the federal banking agencies.” According to JPMorgan, Dimon was “fraudulently joined” in the suit Trump filed in state court in Miami-Dade County, meaning he was included in order to avoid federal jurisdiction.
JPMorgan is being represented by law firm Jones Day and its legal team includes Noel Francisco, who was US solicitor general during the first Trump administration.
Trump sued the bank and Dimon in January, seeking at least $5 billion for allegedly “debanking” him and his companies following the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol by his supporters. JPMorgan said in its Thursday filing that it would seek to dismiss Trump’s “threadbare” lawsuit.
The bank said Trump’s accusation that Dimon directed employees to add the president and his companies to a “blacklist” which was sent to other banks, was “unclear” and deficient.
“They do not explain what this ‘blacklist’ entails, when it was created, to whom it was supposedly circulated, or any other detail describing it,” JPMorgan’s lawyers said. “Nor is it plausible that JPMorgan could create such a list consistent with the complex federal regulatory scheme to which it is subject.”
Trump sued Capital One Financial Corp. last year, making similar allegations. He also asked federal regulators to investigate financial institutions that participated in “debanking” in the past. Capital One has moved to dismiss the case.
“By their own admission, JPMorgan Chase, at the direction of CEO Jamie Dimon, unlawfully debanked and blacklisted President Trump, his family, and several of his businesses, causing overwhelming financial and reputational harm,” a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said in a statement.
“The defendants committed these tortious acts only because of the president’s America First policies, which have saved our nation. President Trump is standing up for all those wrongly debanked by JPMorgan Chase and their cohorts, and will see this case to a just, and proper conclusion.”
JPMorgan closed the accounts at issue roughly seven weeks after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. At the time that Trump filed his suit, the bank said it closed the accounts for “legal and regulatory” reasons.
By Mikella Schuettler
With assistance from Erik Larson and Anthony Aarons
