JPMorgan Chase denied claims that it “debanked” former Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback over his conservative and spiritual views, in response to a report Thursday.
The financial institution mentioned it didn’t obtain info it had requested from Brownback earlier than it closed the account, in response to an October 2022 letter considered by Reuters.
Brownback, a Republican who chairs the Nationwide Committee for Non secular Freedom, has accused JPMorgan of shuttering the account in 2022 on non secular grounds.
He alleged the nation’s largest financial institution refuses enterprise to conservatives and spiritual teams.
“We don’t discontinue shopper relationships due to a non secular or political affiliation, and we didn’t together with your account,” Larry Thode, a managing director at JPMorgan, wrote in a beforehand unreported letter from October 2022.
“The knowledge your group gave to us at account opening triggered our request for added info. That had nothing to do with any non secular affiliation.”
He added that the financial institution didn’t acquire the required info earlier than the account was closed as a result of its staff have been unable to attach with Brownback’s workers.
“Essentially the most suspicious factor about our case is that even after their October 2022 letter Chase continued to vary their rationale for closing our account,” Brownback instructed The Submit in an announcement.
A spokesperson for Brownback mentioned the financial institution nonetheless has not addressed why the account was closed simply three weeks after opening, and that the group was not given 60 days to answer the financial institution’s inquiries.
“The regulatory and supervisory setting governing banking – together with our AML [anti-money laundering] regime – is in rapid want of reform, and we sit up for supporting this Administration to do this,” a JPMorgan spokesperson instructed The Submit.
The spokesperson added that Brownback’s claims that the financial institution has not addressed the explanation behind the account closure are “patently false. The Senator is totally conscious of why his accounts have been closed.”
Thode didn’t instantly reply to The Submit’s request for remark.
In the meantime, President Trump signed an govt order Thursday that can slap banks that discriminate towards conservatives with fines and different penalties.
It’ll additionally retroactively goal monetary establishments which have closed accounts on political or non secular grounds up to now.
“President Trump is addressing unfair banking practices and defending the American folks from being denied entry to monetary providers as a result of their political occasion or non secular beliefs,” White Home spokesperson Harrison Fields instructed The Submit.
Earlier this week, Trump claimed that JPMorgan, Financial institution of America and different banks “discriminated towards me very badly” after they refused to just accept greater than $1 billion of his deposits.
For months, the president has railed towards debanking practices.
He blasted Financial institution of America CEO Brian Moynihan earlier this yr, who he mentioned “was kissing my ass once I was president” however wouldn’t settle for the deposits after his first time period ended.
Brownback alleged JPMorgan abruptly shuttered the non secular committee’s account in 2022.
“After I tried to deposit a donation at an area Chase department, I used to be knowledgeable the financial institution had closed our account — with out giving me any motive why,” Brownback wrote in an op-ed for The Submit earlier this yr.
“Over the course of the subsequent yr, a stream of Chase staff supplied up no fewer than 4 conflicting explanations for why it had canceled our account,” he added.
Banks are required to hold out due diligence below anti-money laundering packages, together with particular tips for charities and non-profit organizations, just like the Nationwide Committee for Non secular Freedom.
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