May 25, 2023
EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans are investigating whether Bank of America "voluntarily" turned over to the FBI a list of customers who made transactions in the days on and around the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, and those who purchased firearms with the bank’s credit and debit cards.
The House Judiciary Committee, its Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, and the Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform and Antitrust are "conducting oversight" of the FBI’s receipt of "information about American citizens from private entities."
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who chairs the full committee and the Weaponization subcommittee, and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who chairs the other subcommittee, told Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan in a letter obtained by Fox News Digital that they want more information on the bank's cooperation with the FBI.
"We require your cooperation in investigating these facts," Jordan and Massie wrote in their letter. They asked for all records related to the provision of customer data by June 8.
The investigation comes after an FBI whistleblower testified to the committees that Bank of America, "with no directive from the FBI, data-mined its customer base" by compiling customers who used a Bank of America debit or credit card between Jan. 5 and Jan. 7, 2021.
Jordan and Massie explained to Moynihan that the FBI whistleblower told the committees that provided the FBI "voluntarily and without any legal process" with a list of those customers.
The committee was also told, separately, that people who had previously purchased a firearm with a Bank of America product were "elevated to the top of the list regardless of when or where the purchase was made."
Retired FBI Supervisory Intelligence Analyst George Hill was one FBI whistleblower shared the information. He said Bank of America "compiled that list. And then, on top of that list, they put anyone who had purchased a firearm during any date."
Hill testified that the "huge list" that Bank of America created "targeted transactions in Washington, D.C. and the surrounding area."
As for the customers who made firearm purchases with a Bank of America product, Hill said there was "no geographic framework" and no date range.
Hill’s testimony was corroborated by the testimony of his former FBI supervisor, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Boston Field Office Joseph Bonavolonta. He testified that he learned of Bank of America’s move through another special agent-in-charge of counterterrorism in Boston.
Bonavolonta said the Bank of America customer data was "sent to other FBI field offices across the country, specifically the FBI Springfield, Illinois Field office."
"This testimony is alarming," Jordan and Massie wrote. "According to veteran FBI employees, [Bank of America] provided, without any legal process, 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 [Bank of America] customers’ transactions over a three-day period," they wrote. "This information undoubtedly included private details about [Bank of America] customers who had nothing at all to do with the events of January 6."
"Even worse, [Bank of America] specifically provided information about Americans who exercised their Second Amendment right to purchase a firearm," they said.
Jordan and Massie said the committees are seeking to understand "how and to what extent financial institutions, such as Bank of America, worked with the FBI to collect Americans’ data."
The lawmakers demanded that Bank of America turn over all communications from Jan. 1, 2021 to the present between or among Bank of America employees, officials or consultants related to the provision of financial records to the FBI during that timeframe. They also asked for all records related to the bank’s communications with the Justice Department from January 2021 to the present.
The two lawmakers are also demanding Bank of America turn over all documents and communications related to any "internal database of firearms purchases made by [Bank of America] customers."
"This letter serves as a formal request to preserve all existing and future records and materials relating to the topics addressed in this letter," they wrote. "You should construe this preservation notice as an instruction to take all reasonable steps to prevent the destruction or alteration, whether intentionally or negligently, of all documents, communications, and other information, including electronic information and metadata, that are or may be responsive to this congressional inquiry."
Bank of America did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
The FBI did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
