Florida CFO pries into sudden bank account closures, Chase cites ‘regulatory scrutiny’ by feds
Brendon Leslie contributed to this report.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – Following an exclusive Florida’s Voice report about JP Morgan Chase suddenly shutting down a Florida-based business account, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis sent a letter to the company questioning its decision.
Natural Health Partners, LLC, which owns Mercola Market in Cape Coral, suddenly had its accounts terminated July 13. The company’s CEO, CFO and their family members also had their Chase accounts terminated at the same time.
The company’s owner, Dr. Joseph Mercola, has criticized of COVID-19 vaccines and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
An employee previously told Florida’s Voice he thought the closure was politically motivated and due to their employer’s controversial stance on COVID-19. Chase told Florida’s Voice they “don’t close accounts because of political affiliations, and we didn’t do so in this case.”
In Patronis’ letter, he said the bank closure situation brings up concerns regarding “government overreach and influence.”
“Recently, it was revealed that the federal government went to great lengths to censor and suppress information on social media channels like Twitter,” Patronis said in the letter.
He questioned whether government officials were involved in Chase’s decision to close the accounts and asked for additional justification as to why the accounts were terminated.
“As you can imagine, federal government using their power to impede social media channels is alarming but pales in comparison to the impacts it could have if used against our financial institutions and businesses,” Patronis said.
In response to the letter, Chase told Florida’s Voice that the accounts were closed due to the federal government’s “scrutiny” of the customer for “engaging in illegal activity” related to his products.
JPMorgan Chase does not close a customer’s account because of political beliefs, and we didn’t do so in this case. We chose to close these accounts because the customer has been the subject of regulatory scrutiny by the Federal government on multiple occasions for engaging in illegal activity relating to the marketing and sale of consumer products and we have a legal obligation to prevent funds derived from these activities from flowing through our bank.
Chase spokesman
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent a warning letter to Dr. Mercola Feb. 18, 2021 about Mercola Market’s website and social media. The FDA said Mercola selling Liposomal Vitamin C, Liposomal Vitamin D3, Quercetin and Pterostilbene Advanced as a way to mitigate, prevent, treat, diagnose or cure COVID-19 is in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
“We request that you take immediate action to cease the sale of such unapproved and unauthorized products for the mitigation, prevention, treatment, diagnosis, or cure of COVID-19,” the FDA’s letter said.
Mercola Market sells specialty beverages, food, supplements and other health items.
When the business, CFO, CEO and their family members received letters about the account terminations, the letters did not provide a reason as to why the accounts were closing.
CEO Steven Rye told Florida’s Voice he believed the accounts were cancelled because of his employer’s opinions.
“He has carried a contradictory view throughout the COVID narrative and co-authored the best selling book The Truth About COVID-19 which exposed the likelihood that this virus was engineered in a laboratory funded by the NIH,” he explained.
Rye said he was told his children would not be able to carry accounts with Chase Bank in the future.
“It’s just hard to believe that your family, your wife, your kids can’t have a bank account because of the opinions of your employer and they’ve never done anything wrong,” Rye said. “We all have completely clear records.”
