JPMorgan Chase has acknowledged in a court filing that it closed more than 50 bank accounts linked to Donald Trump and his businesses in February 2021, shortly after the 6 January attack on the US Capitol, confirming a central allegation in the president’s $5 billion lawsuit against the lender and its chief executive, Jamie Dimon.

According to documents filed in the case, the accounts included commercial and private banking relationships covering hotels, property developments and retail operations in Illinois, Florida and New York, as well as Trump’s personal private bank account.

In a letter dated 19 February 2021, the bank told Trump he would need to “find a more suitable institution with which to conduct business”, adding that it can sometimes “determine that a client’s interests are no longer served by maintaining a relationship with J.P. Morgan Private Bank”. The correspondence did not cite a specific reason for the closures.

Trump’s lawsuit, originally filed in Florida, seeks at least $5 billion in damages and alleges that the accounts were terminated for political reasons following the Capitol riot, disrupting his business operations.

A spokesman for Trump’s legal team said: “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.”

He added that the president “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.”

JPMorgan has previously said the lawsuit lacks merit but had not confirmed until now that it closed the accounts. The bank did not respond to requests for further comment.

In a motion filed alongside the correspondence, JPMorgan asked for the case to be transferred from Florida to federal court in New York, arguing that the accounts were opened and managed there and that relevant agreements require disputes to be litigated in New York.

The dispute has fed into a broader political row over “debanking”, a term used by conservative politicians who argue that financial institutions have denied services on reputational grounds after the events of 6 January 2021.

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