JP MORGAN Chase has been accused of engaging in political and religious discrimination by abruptly closing customer accounts.

19 Republican attorneys general have signed a letter to the banking organization’s CEO Jamie Dimon claiming discrimination over the abrupt cancellation of checking accounts for major organizations.

The letter which was sent in May was written by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron.

It called the alleged discrimination “clear” and “unacceptable.”

“It is clear that JPMorgan Chase & Co. (Chase) has persistently discriminated against certain customers due to their religious or political affiliation,” the letter stated.

“This discrimination is unacceptable. Chase must stop such behavior and align its business practices with the anti-discrimination policies that Chase proclaims.”

A spokesperson for JPMorgan told Business Insider: “We do not close accounts due to religious or political affiliations, and did not in these cases.”

The attorneys general accused the bank of “abruptly closing” the checking account of the non-profit National Committee for Religious Freedoms (NCRF) three weeks after it opened the account.

The letter alleged that Chase had sent a letter informing the NCRF of the closure after it happened and that it asked screening questions based on religion and politics before reinstating them.

NCRF’s National Advisory Board which includes members from the Christian, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim faiths was told that the bank had “end[ed] their relationship.”

“Chase did so despite there being no possible basis for claiming that the NCRF’s conduct or transactions had somehow raised regulatory red flags or given the bank any legitimate reason to cut off service,” the attorneys general’s letter said.

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It is claimed that employees informed members of NCRF that the decision came from the “corporate office” when they asked for a reason behind the closure.

However, Chase allegedly later contacted NCRF to discuss reinstating its account if the non-profit provided a list of its donors, political candidates it intended to support, and an explanation of the criteria for the group’s endorsement and support.

According to the attornies general, “this was not an anomaly, as there have been at least two other similar incidents.”

The letter alleged that in 2021 a credit-card processor owned by Chase closed the account of Family Council, a conservative, pro-life organization.

In addition to this, WePay, also owned by Chase “refused service to a conservative group because WePay equated conservative views with ‘hate, violence, racial intolerance, [and] terrorism,'” according to the letter.

The Treasurer of Missouri had this decision overturned.

According to those who signed the letter, they believe that residents of their states “are at risk of being de-banked without notice or recourse.”

It adds that Chase has made no efforts despite previous U-turns on account closures allegedly fuelled by discrimination to prevent such closures from occurring in the future.

According to the letter, the banking group has refused proposals aimed at increasing transparency over its account closure policies and its commitment to inclusivity.

“The bank’s brazen attempt to condition critical services on a customer passing some unarticulated religious or political litmus test flies in the face of Chase’s antidiscrimination policies,” Cameron wrote.

“Worse, it flies in the face of basic American values of fairness
and equality.”

The U.S. Sun has contacted JPMorgan and the Kentucky Attorney General for comment.