Republican Congressmen Demand Answers About Bank of America’s Decision to Turn Over Client Information to FBI

By: José Niño

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) recently revealed that Bank of America (BoA) has been sending the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) information about its customers’ firearms purchases without a warrant. They drew on information provided by FBI whistleblowers to make these claims.

In light of this development, both members of Congress have sent letters to other banks to determine if they also infringed on their customers’ right to privacy.

John Crump of AmmoLand noted that BoA has a history of willingly cooperating with the FBI to undermine Americans’ freedoms. Following the January 6 storming of the United States Capitol in 2021, BoA supplied the FBI a list of customers who conducted transactions in or in close proximity to Washington, D.C., bought flight tickets to D.C., or made a hotel room reservation in D.C.

The majority of BoA customers who attended the January 6 rally did not enter the Capitol Building. Moreover, the FBI did not have probable cause to let the law enforcement agency acquire a court order for the bank to hand over the documents.

Eventually the FBI went to BoA requesting the records, which the bank agreed to without even requesting a court order. In essence, BoA placed any individual in or close to D.C. and who purchased a gun at the top of this list. In turn, the FBI would single out individuals who met these behavioral criteria for investigation. Frighteningly, the FBI investigated countless BoA patrons without a court order and with BoA’s complete 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,” the letter highlighted.

The letter was subsequently sent to Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase & Co., PNC Financial Services, Truist Financial Corporation, U.S. Bancorp, and Wells Fargo. The congressmen are calling on the financial institutions to provide any documents or correspondence about the release of customer data from the January 6, 2021, timeframe to the FBI or any other federal law enforcement entities.

This request has been made to determine if other prominent banks sent similar customer information to federal agencies.

“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 PNC Financial Services, worked with the FBI to collect Americans’ private data,” the letter added.

Joe Neville, the vice president of the National Association for Gun Rights, offered his take on these developments:

“The FBI has a shameful past when it comes to violating citizens privacy rights and they are not above using less than factual documents to get warrants. But in the case of Bank of America, they just coughed up their customer’s data without asking for a warrant or any justification. And they put gun owners at the top of the data mining list. Big Business and Big Government have become way too cozy over the years. The FBI, ATF, IRS, etc., have become political weapons and gun owners are the Left’s public enemy number one. At the very least those groups should be defunded.”

In recent years, the FBI has faced greater scrutiny due to its perceived politicization and use by the political establishment in D.C. to persecute right-wing organizations. Gun owners have every reason to view the FBI with askance. This is one institution that poses a major threat to Americans’ individual liberties, especially those of gun owners.

For all intents and purposes, gun owners should cast their lot with political efforts to defund and ultimately abolish the FBI.

José Niño is a freelance writer based in Austin, Texas. Contact him via Facebook, Twitter, or email him at [email protected]. Get his e-book, The 10 Myths of Gun Control, here.