OCC Report Reveals Banks Restricting Services to Legal Businesses: A New Era of Operation Choke Point?The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has uncovered that nine major banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, and Wells Fargo, have been restricting or denying services to lawful businesses, such as those in digital assets and cryptocurrency, without proper financial risk justification. This practice echoes concerns of a resurgent Operation Choke Point, a Justice Department initiative from 2013 that pressured banks to treat certain legal industries as high-risk. The OCCs findings also indicate that other industries, like oil and gas exploration, coal mining, firearms, private prisons, tobacco and e-cigarettes, and adult entertainment, have faced heightened scrutiny. Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould emphasized the OCCs commitment to preventing any efforts to weaponize finance and plans to hold banks accountable as the investigation continues.

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