JPMorgan Chase Unit Denies Payment Processing Support To Proud Boys
JPMorgan Chase denies that a business it owns is linked to a crowdfunding source for the far-right Proud Boys group amid the assault on the U.S Capitol this past week.
Such allegations came after media reports last week on GiveSendGo and The Proud Boys, the President Trump-backed group which gained noteriety for its violence and racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia.
The reports alleged that WePay, an online payment processing unit of the nation’s largest bank, supported both the Christian fundraising group GiveSendGo and the campaign for The Proud Boys’ founder. .
Correspondingly, the civil rights group Color of Change launched a petition to halt JPMorgan and other payments processors from supporting sites like GiveSendGo.
The charges came after JPMorgan Chase in October 2020 committed $30 billion over five years to help Black and Latinx Americans develop wealth, buy homes, and grow businesses. The bank’s Path Forward drive is the largest such commitment thus far by some of the nation’s largest banks to battle racism after the police shooting of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter protests.
To make clear its position on the new charges, WePay and JPMorgan Chase are responding. WePay reports its online payments processing platform is used by software companies that primarily serve small businesses and non-profits.
In a Jan. 7, 2021 letter to Color of Change, Rich Aberman, founder and Chief Product Officer of WePay, stated, “WePay and the entire JPMorgan Chase & Co firm share your profound concern regarding the violent events in our nation’s capital on January 6th. We share your goal of eradicating hate, ending disparities, and helping our nation heal its racial wounds.”
He added, “I wanted to share with you that WePay is not involved with the Proud Boys campaign you referenced and does not process payments for them. WePay made the decision early last year to stop servicing and processing payments for crowdfunding platforms, including GiveSendGo, which is the platform enabling their campaign and referenced in public reports.”
The letter continued, “WePay has not processed any payments for GiveSendGo since early 2020. Recently, we did discover two legacy mentions of WePay on the GiveSendGo website, and they have since been removed at our request.”
A JPMorgan Chase spokesman offered this statement:
“WePay and the entire JPMorgan Chase firm joins Color of Change in condemning the violent events that occurred at the U.S. Capitol and we share their goal of eradicating hate, ending disparities, and helping our nation heal its racial wounds. WePay made the decision in early 2020 to stop processing payments for the crowdfunding industry, including platforms like GiveSendGo, and did not process the payments that are being alleged in media reports. We appreciate Color of Change raising these important issues. We remain committed to advancing racial equity and justice and to working with Color of Change and others to build inclusive communities.”
