Justice Department opens sweeping 'debanking' probe into JPMorgan, Bank of America and more

Key Points:

• Federal prosecutors, led by US Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s Washington, DC office, have issued subpoenas to JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and other major banks in a criminal investigation into whether they closed customer accounts based on political beliefs, specifically targeting conservatives.
• The investigation follows allegations from former President Trump and his family that banks, including JPMorgan and Capital One, shut down their accounts after the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots; banks deny wrongdoing, citing regulatory compliance and anti-money-laundering rules.
• Prosecutors are considering charges under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989, a broad fraud statute with a 10-year statute of limitations, though legal experts note the difficulty in proving unlawful discrimination given banks' discretion and regulatory obligations.
• The probe builds on earlier findings by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency that major banks had debanked customers in politically sensitive industries, and it marks a shift from regulatory to criminal investigation, with Pirro’s office now coordinating with the OCC.
• The investigation is politically charged, with critics accusing Pirro of overreaching, while her office has a history of contentious probes, including a previously quashed investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s office renovation.