Judiciary Committee On Bank Of America Providing Information On American Citizens To FBI Without Legal Process

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust Chairman Thomas Massie (R-KY) sent letters to Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase & Company, PNC Financial Services, Truist, U.S. Bankcorp, and Wells Fargo about banks voluntarily providing the federal government with customers' private financial data in the wake of January 6, 2021.
 
The House Judiciary Committee and Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released a report highlighting whistleblower testimony about how Bank of America (BoA) provided the FBI—voluntarily and without any legal process—with a list of individuals who had made transactions in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area with a BoA credit or debit card between January 5 and January 7, 2021.

Whistleblower Report Details Government Abuse, Misallocation of Resources, and Retaliation at the FBI

The report also suggests that individuals who had previously purchased a firearm with a BoA product were elevated to the top of the list regardless of when or where the purchase was made. 

Today's letters inquire as to whether other banks acted in similar fashion surrounding the events of January 6, 2021.
 
Excerpts of the letter to JP Morgan Chase & Co.:

"The Committee on the Judiciary and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government are conducting oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and its receipt of information about American citizens from private entities. An FBI whistleblower has disclosed that following the events at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, Bank of America (BoA) provided the FBI—voluntarily and without any legal process—with a list of individuals who had made transactions in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area with a BoA credit or debit card between January 5 and January 7, 2021. Based on this information, we are evaluating whether other financial institutions similarly provided federal law enforcement with private customer data with legal process. We appreciate your full cooperation.

"In a transcribed interview, retired FBI Supervisory Intelligence Analyst George Hill testified that BoA, 'with no directive from the FBI, data-mined its customer base' and compiled a list of BoA customers who used a BoA product during a specified date range. Mr. Hill further noted that 'on top of that list, they put anyone who had purchased a firearm during any date.' Mr. Hill also testified that the list that BoA provided targeted transactions in Washington D.C. and the surrounding area.

"Mr. Hill's testimony was later corroborated by his former supervisor, Special Agent-inCharge of the Boston Field Office, Joseph Bonavolonta. Mr. Bonavolonta testified that 'in essence' BoA provided an 'aggregated . . . list of individuals that were supposedly living up in the New England area who . . . either had potentially made . . . certain credit card purchases . . . for hotel reservations or plane tickets, or potential purchases at certain gun stores' on or around January 6, 2021. Mr. Bonavolonta also stated that the customer data was sent to other FBI field offices across the country. 

"We find this testimony alarming. According to veteran FBI employees, without any legal process, a major financial institution provided the private financial information of Americans to the most powerful law enforcement entity in the country. This information appears to have had no individualized nexus to particularized criminal conduct but was rather a data dump of customers' transactions over a three-day period. This information undoubtedly included private details about individuals who had nothing at all to do with the events at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

"Congress has an important interest in ensuring that Americans' private information is protected from collection by federal law enforcement agencies without proper due process. The Committee and Select Subcommittee must understand if, how, and to what extent financial institutions, including JPMorgan Chase, worked with the FBI to collect Americans' private data. As we continue our oversight, we ask that you please provide the following documents and information:

1. All documents and communications from January 1, 2021, to the present between or among JP Morgan Chase & Co. officials, employees, or consultants referring or relating to the provision of financial records to federal law enforcement entities, including but not limited to the FBI, concerning the use of a JP Morgan Chase & Co. product between January 5, 2021, and January 7, 2021, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

2. All documents and communications from January 1, 2021, to the present between or among JP Morgan Chase & Co. officials, employees, or consultants and the FBI referring or relating to the provision of financial records to the FBI concerning the use of a JP Morgan Chase & Co. product between January 5, 2021, and January 7, 2021, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

3. All documents and communications from January 1, 2021, to the present between or among JP Morgan Chase & Co. officials, employees, or consultants and federal law enforcement agencies referring or relating to the provision of financial records to federal law enforcement concerning the use of a JP Morgan Chase & Co. product between January 5, 2021, and January 7, 2021, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area."