NEW YORK (AP) — JPMorgan Chase acknowledged for the first time that it closed the bank accounts of President Donald Trump and several of his businesses in the political and legal aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021 attacks on the U.S. Capitol, the latest development in a legal saga between the president and the nation's biggest bank over the issue known as “debanking.”
The acknowledgment came in a court filing submitted this week in Trump's lawsuit against the bank and its leader, Jamie Dimon. The president sued for $5 billion, alleging that his accounts were closed for political reasons, disrupting his business operations.
“In February 2021, JPMorgan informed Plaintiffs that certain accounts maintained with JPMorgan’s CB and PB would be closed,” JPMorgan's former chief administrative officer Dan Wilkening wrote in the court filing. The “PB” and “CB” stands for JPMorgan's private bank and commercial bank.
Until now, JPMorgan has never admitted it closed the president's accounts in writing after Jan. 6. The bank would only speak hypothetically about when the bank closes accounts and its reasons for closing accounts, citing bank privacy laws.
A spokeswoman for the bank declined to comment beyond what the bank said in its legal filings.
Trump originally sued JPMorgan in Florida state court, where Trump's primary residence is now located. The filings this week are part of an effort by JPMorgan Chase to have the case both moved from state to federal court and to have the jurisdiction of the case moved to New York, which is where the bank accounts were located and where Trump kept much of his business operations until recently.
Trump originally accused the bank of trade libel and violating state and federal unfair and deceptive trade practices.
In the original lawsuit, Trump said he tried to raise the issue personally with Dimon after the bank sent him notices that JPMorgan would close his accounts, and that Dimon assured Trump he would figure out what was happening. The lawsuit alleges Dimon failed to follow up with Trump.
Further, Trump’s lawyers allege that JPMorgan placed the president and his companies on a reputational “blacklist” that both JPMorgan and other banks use to keep clients from opening accounts with them in the future. The blacklist has yet to be defined by the president's lawyers.
“If and when Plaintiffs explain what they mean by this “blacklist,” JPMorgan will respond accordingly,” the bank's lawyers said in a filing.
JPMorgan has previously said that while it regrets that Trump felt the need to sue the bank, the lawsuit has no merit.
The issue of debanking is at the center of the case. Debanking occurs when a bank closes the accounts of a customer or refuses to do business with a customer in the form of loans or other services. Once a relatively obscure issue in finance, debanking has become a politically charged issue in recent years, with conservative politicians arguing that banks have discriminated against them and their affiliated interests.
“In a devastating concession that proves President Trump’s entire claim, JPMorgan Chase admitted to unlawfully and intentionally de-banking President Trump, his family, and his businesses, causing overwhelming financial harm,” the president's lawyers said in a statement. President Trump is standing up for all those wrongly debanked by JPMorgan Chase and its cohorts, and will see this case to a just and proper conclusion.”
Debanking first became a national issue when conservatives accused the Obama administration of pressuring banks to stop extending services to gun stores and payday lenders under “Operation Choke Point.”
Trump and other conservative figures have alleged that banks cut them off from their accounts under the umbrella term of “reputational risk” after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Since Trump came back into office, the president’s banking regulators have moved to stop any banks from using “reputational risk” as a reason for denying service to customers.
This is not the first lawsuit Trump has filed against a big bank alleging that he was debanked. The Trump Organization sued credit card giant Capital One in March 2025 for similar reasons and allegations. The case is ongoing.
President Donald Trump speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, in Washington, as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik, looks on. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
MILAN (AP) — Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo set the record for the most golds by one athlete in a single Winter Olympics as the Norwegian star completed his historic gold medal sweep of the men’s cross-country skiing events on Saturday.
Klaebo’s triumph in the 50-kilometer mass start race was his sixth victory at the Milan Cortina Games and shattered the nearly 50-year record set by American speed skater Eric Heiden, who won five golds in the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics.
Klaebo’s teammates, Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, took silver, and Emil Iversen won bronze in a Norwegian sweep.
The win extends Klaebo’s record for most career Winter Olympic gold medals to 11 over three Games. The previous record had been eight, which Klaebo broke Feb. 15.
Klaebo has the second-most Olympic golds overall. U.S. swimming great Michael Phelps has 23.
Jordan Stolz missed out on his chance to become the first man since 1994 to collect three gold medals in long track speedskating at one Olympics, with the American finishing fourth in the mass start behind 40-year-old champion Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands.
Bergsma is the oldest man to win a speedskating gold, finishing ahead of Viktor Hald Thorup of Denmark and Italy's Andrea Giovannini.
The gold in the women’s mass start also went to a Dutch skater: reigning world champion Marijke Groenewoud. Ivanie Blondin of Canada was the silver medalist for the second Games in a row, followed by Mia Manganello of the U.S. with the bronze.
The United States Olympic team won its record-breaking 11th gold medal of the Games when the trio of Kaila Kuhn, Connor Curran and Chris Lillis took the title in mixed aerials.
The 11th gold breaks the country’s record set at the last Olympics on U.S. soil — in Salt Lake City in 2002.
The Canadian men beat Britain for gold in curling while the women's team overcame its disappointment to beat the U.S, for the bronze.
Brad Jacobs’ team defeated Bruce Mouat’s all-Scottish squad 9-6 inside Cortina’s historic ice arena to give curling powerhouse Canada it’s only gold of the Olympics in the sport.
In the women’s event, top-ranked Canada won 10-7 to deny the American women their first medal in the event.
Rachel Homan’s team had been upset by Sweden in the semifinals.
Kaillie Humphries Armbruster won her sixth career Olympic bobsled medal, tying monobob gold medalist Elana Meyers Taylor for the most by any woman in the sport’s history.
The American claimed bronze in the two-woman race, behind Laura Nolte — who successfully defended her title — and Lisa Buckwitz.
Emily Harrop finally got her hands on an Olympic gold medal, combining with Thibault Anselmet to win the mixed relay for France as part of ski mountaineering’s Olympic debut.
Harrop and Anselmet finished the Stelvio course in a time of 26 minutes, 57.44 seconds, holding off the Swiss team of Marianne Fatton and Jon Kistler by 11.86 seconds. Spanish racers Ana Alonso Rodriguez and Oriol Cardona Coll captured the bronze.
Harrop had been favored to win the individual sprint race on Thursday and the first-ever skimo Olympic medal but finished behind Fatton. Anselmet was third in his race, with Cardona Coll claiming gold.
Freeskiers Simone Deromedis and Federico Tomasoni added to the Olympic host country’s medal haul with a 1-2 finish in the men’s skicross final.
Deromedis dominated the four-skier final to win gold while Tomasoni needed a photo-finish to claim silver after stretching to barely beat Alex Fiva. They both celebrated with Italian flags draped over their shoulders as snow fell.
Deromedis gave Italy its 10th gold medal of the Milan Cortina Olympics. Italy’s overall haul is 30 at the end of the penultimate day.
Italy's previous best Winter Olympics was the Lillehammer Games in 1994, when it picked up 20 medals.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
France's Emily Harrop competes during a ski mountaineering mixed relay, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Gold medalists United States' Christopher Lillis, Connor Curran and Kaila Kuhn celebrate after the freestyle skiing mixed team aerials final at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Gold medallist Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands celebrates winning the men's mass start final speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Jordan Stolz of the U.S. warms up ahead of the mass start speedskating races at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, of Norway, crosses the finish line to win the gold medal during the cross country skiing men's 50km mass start Classic at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
