JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon was heading home after another whirlwind trip to Davos, when the news hit: President Donald Trump was suing him and his bank for $5 billion.
It's not just the latest attempt by Trump to go after companies that he claims have personally wronged him - it's another twist in his long, complex and sometimes combative relationship with the head of the biggest US bank. JPMorgan's shareholders were unfazed: The stock slipped slightly before ending the day higher, adding more than $4 billion to its market value. The board then announced it gave Dimon a 10% raise.
In this round, Trump accused Dimon of personally locking him out of the US financial industry after he left the White House in 2021. Or as his lawsuit put it: The CEO and his "woke" Wall Street firm illegally "debanked" Trump's businesses because of his politics, then slapped Trump's name in an industry "blacklist" that blocked him from accessing other lenders, too.
"You're not allowed to do what they did - Jamie Dimon, what he did, he's not allowed to do that," Trump later told reporters aboard Air Force One. "I don't know what their excuse would be. Maybe their excuse would be the regulators."
Indeed, JPMorgan said it follows federal rules that push it to "close accounts because they create legal or regulatory risk for the company." The firm, which like other banks pulled back from Trump in the weeks after his supporters attacked the US Capitol, expressed support for his administration's recent efforts to hone those laws and prevent any potential "weaponization of the banking sector."
The new lawsuit adds to the president's recent break with Wall Street.
After his deregulatory and tax policies handed US banks one of their most lucrative years ever, Trump launched a barrage of attacks on financial firms this month - demanding, among other things, that they slash credit-card interest rates to levels that would crush profits.
In Dimon's case, Trump is targeting the industry's elder statesman, who has often brokered peace between Wall Street and the White House.
Squeezing Companies
The lawsuit was brought by Alejandro "Alex" Brito, the lawyer who helped Trump sue the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and, last month, British Broadcasting Corp., seeking a combined $35 billion for alleged defamation. The companies deny wrongdoing and are fighting the litigation.
Trump has publicly complained that Capital One Financial Corp. and Bank of America Corp. also improperly rejected his business over the years. He has yet to succeed in making them pay.
The Trump Organization sued Capital One in March for allegedly undermining its real estate and other businesses by canceling hundreds of accounts after his first term ended. The lawsuit, initially filed in Florida state court and moved to federal court in Miami, claims that Trump's businesses were customers of Capital One for decades, transacting tens of millions of dollars through the firm.
Capital One denied wrongdoing and sought to dismiss the suit. The bank said it didn't consider Trump's politics, didn't seek to close all Trump-related accounts and gave his company additional time to transfer assets.
Trump administration watchdogs including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sought to curb debanking after calls from the president and Republican lawmakers. The rules at issue are supposed to keep banks safe by pressing them to examine and potentially weed out clients who pose reputational risks.
Under OCC head Jonathan Gould, the agency found that nine large US lenders made "inappropriate distinctions" among customers between 2020 and 2023 when they restricted some clients' access to banking services or subjected them to more demanding reviews.
The FDIC proposed a separate plan that explicitly prohibits examiners from forcing banks to shut accounts on political, social, cultural or religious grounds.
JPMorgan said it asked multiple administrations to change rules that "put us in this position."
On Air Force One on Thursday, Trump said Dimon had "begged" him when reporters asked about the new lawsuit, though he didn't elaborate on when or how. At Davos, Dimon balanced his assessment of Trump's recent actions.
"I have made it clear: I want a stronger NATO, a stronger Europe," Dimon said during an interview on stage. "Some of the things Trump has done are causing that. Some are not."
After Economist Editor-in-Chief Zanny Minton Beddoes pressed Dimon on whether there was a culture of fear among executives when it came to Trump, the banking boss made it clear he'd had enough.
"What the hell else do you want me to say?" Dimon said. "Ready, here's your headline: I'm a globalist."
Rocky Relationship
At various points over the past decade, Dimon and Trump have collaborated on policies, praised each other's insights, chided foibles and even slung barbs.
After publicly suggesting that Hillary Clinton would beat Trump in 2016, Dimon pivoted after that election, sending a memo to staff that said voters had expressed a desire for change and "we need to listen."
Dimon soon joined the incoming president's advisory council of CEOs. At the World Economic Forum that January, he urged business leaders to focus on the president's team of "very serious people," rather than his "one-liners."
The CEO council didn't survive a year, dissolving after Trump's response to racial violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. That time Dimon told employees "there's no room for equivocation here."
The pair clashed in late 2018, when Dimon said he could beat Trump in an election because "I'm as tough as he is, I'm smarter than he is." He added: "By the way, this wealthy New Yorker actually earned his money" and "it wasn't a gift from daddy."
Within hours, JPMorgan put out a statement from Dimon saying "I shouldn't have said it." Trump fired back on social media: "The problem with banker Jamie Dimon running for President is that he doesn't have the aptitude or 'smarts' & is a poor public speaker & nervous mess - otherwise he is wonderful."
During the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, Dimon spoke up again, saying "our elected leaders have a responsibility to call for an end to the violence, accept the results and, as our democracy has for hundreds of years, support the peaceful transition of power."
As the 2024 presidential race heated up, Dimon said Trump was "kind of right" about some of his policies. That June, Trump said that, if elected, he'd consider Dimon for Treasury secretary - and then denied it a few weeks later.
After winning reelection, Trump posted on social media that Dimon would not be invited to join his administration. Dimon took the stage at a conference minutes later and thanked Trump for his message, adding: "I haven't had a boss in 25 years and I'm not about ready to start."
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
