TechFlow News: On February 23, according to Cointelegraph, Dan Wilkening, former Chief Administrative Officer of JPMorgan Chase—the largest U.S. bank—acknowledged in court documents that the bank decided in February 2021 to close Trump-related commercial and private banking accounts. This marks JPMorgan Chase’s first formal admission of “debanking” Trump.
Trump filed a lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase at the end of January this year, accusing the bank of illegally terminating his accounts for political reasons, placing him and his family on a reputational “blacklist,” and seeking $5 billion in damages. His legal team characterized the above admission as a “devastating concession.” JPMorgan Chase spokesperson Trish Wexler responded that the bank closed the accounts due to legal or regulatory risks—not political or religious reasons.
Eric Trump, Trump’s son, has repeatedly stated that the family’s full-scale pivot to the cryptocurrency space was precisely triggered by their experience of “debanking.” He revealed that Capital One abruptly closed 300 of his bank accounts overnight—an experience that directly prompted him to spearhead the creation of the Trump family’s crypto platform, World Liberty Financial.
