The Justice Department has sent far-ranging subpoenas to several of the nation’s largest banks — including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo — requesting information about whether they “debanked” clients, or improperly closed customer accounts for political reasons, according to people familiar with the matter. The subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., headed by Jeanine Pirro, escalate a campaign by President Trump to root out evidence that banks allegedly discriminated against conservatives and politically controversial industries.
Some of the subpoenas were sent last year, according to the people. They ask banks to provide a list of customers who were allegedly “debanked” and information about why the bank decided to close their accounts.
Until now, the review of bank account closures had primarily been the mandate of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a Treasury Department bureau that oversees the nation’s biggest banks. In August, Trump signed an executive order directing banking regulators to investigate whether financial institutions had engaged in “politicized or unlawful debanking” and to take appropriate action, including by levying financial penalties. The OCC in December released a preliminary report saying it had found early evidence of debanking by the nine largest banks. The agency said the affected industries included oil and gas, coal, firearms manufacturers, and the adult entertainment business and pointed to public reports issued by banks about their environmental and social commitments.
Banks have said they do not close accounts for religious or political reasons. They have said decisions to avoid certain industries or clients are in accord with laws that require banks to screen for criminal activity and money laundering or are in response to other regulatory pressures meant to safeguard the banks.
One challenge for prosecutors and regulators is identifying what laws banks may have violated by choosing not to do business with certain industries or by cutting off particular customers they deemed too risky due to anti-money-laundering requirements. While civil-rights laws prohibit banks from discrimination in connection with their lending, firms have wide discretion over whom they decide to bank. Pirro’s office is investigating whether banks’ actions may have violated laws including the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989, a broad statute traditionally used to prosecute bank-related fraud, some of the people said.
The OCC had not referred matters to the Justice Department; Pirro’s office opened its investigations independently, according to people familiar with the matter. The two agencies are coordinating on their probes, one of the people said.
Trump in January personally sued JPMorgan Chase and its chief executive, Jamie Dimon, saying the bank improperly closed his accounts for political reasons after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The Trump family last year also sued Capital One, saying the bank notified Trump-affiliated businesses in 2021 that it was closing more than 300 accounts. The banks have denied they acted illegally in closing the accounts.
The D.C. U.S. Attorney’s office and Pirro have faced criticism from Democrats for what they have called politically motivated investigations, including into the Federal Reserve’s then-chair, Jerome Powell, over the central bank’s building renovations. Two of the prosecutors involved in the debanking investigations, Carlton Davis and Steven Vandervelden, visited the Fed’s construction site in April and asked for a tour, which was viewed as a provocation in that separate probe.