A Federal Report Confirms Politically Driven Bank Account Closures at Nine Institutions. Now Prosecutors Are Building a Criminal Case.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 26: The JPMorgan Chase logo is seen at their headquarters building on May 26, 2023 in New York City. JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon is set to be deposed under oath for two civil lawsuits that claim that the bank ignored warnings that Jeffrey Epstein was trafficking teenage girls for sex while profiting from his relationship with him. The lawsuits were filed in federal court late last year by lawyers representing Epstein's victims and the other by the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Epstein died by suicide three years ago while in federal custody on sex trafficking charges. The bank states that he was dropped as a client decades ago. (Credit: Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

The Briefing:

• Nine major banks are named in the OCC's October 14 report: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank, Capital One, PNC, TD Bank, and BMO Bank.
• The agency reviewed 100,000 complaints and hundreds of bank decisions spanning 2020 through September 2025.
• Targeted sectors included oil and gas, firearms, cryptocurrency, and political action committees from across the partisan spectrum.
• The OCC is still working through thousands of additional complaints and has placed banks on notice that referrals to the attorney general are a possibility.