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he adult industry has known for a long time what conservatives are only now discovering about American banking: that major financial institutions will close your account without warning, without explanation, and without legal consequence if they decide you're the wrong kind of customer.
This week, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro served sweeping subpoenas on JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, demanding records of customers whose accounts were closed and the reasons behind those closures. The probe, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, targets whether banks violated the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) of 1989 — the same statute that was used to prosecute banks after the 2008 mortgage collapse.
Pirro, the former Fox News anchor who became a federal prosecutor again under the Trump administration, is investigating whether these institutions discriminated against customers based on political alignment or profession: specifically, conservatives, religious organizations, and right-wing groups.
The adult industry is watching closely, as it has been the canary in a coal mine that nobody noticed or cared about for twenty years.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency documented in December 2025 what performers, cam models, and adult business owners have been dealing with for years: nine of the country's largest banks (JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank, Capital One, PNC Bank, TD Bank, and BMO Bank) maintain policies that make "inappropriate distinctions" among customers based on lawful business activity.
Pornographers are on the list alongside private-prison operators and digital-asset firms, all of whom have dealt with frozen accounts, sudden closures and demands for documentation that other businesses aren’t asked to provide. Often their accounts are closed regardless of response.
A 2021 survey by sex worker advocacy group SWOP Sacramento found that 45 percent of California sex workers had lost a bank account at some point, even when the account was unrelated to the adult industry.
The Free Speech Coalition has been lobbying Congress on equitable banking access for years and is currently working to establish a federally chartered credit union specifically for the adult industry. The project is an acknowledgment that the wait for major banks to treat sex workers and adult entertainers as legitimate customers must end.
The investigation is focused on political conservatives, Christian organizations and other constituencies that put the current administration in office. As The New York Post notes, the president has his own grievance with JPMorgan, which a former executive reportedly confirmed closed accounts belonging to Trump and his family following the January 6 insurrection.
FIRREA’s federal enforcement of equitable banking access is the same mechanism the adult industry has been asking regulators to use on its behalf. The OCC findings give that argument a factual foundation while this week’s subpoenas offer a procedural precedent.
Sources: Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Law, Reuters, New York Post, OCC Preliminary Findings on Debanking (Dec. 2025), SWOP Sacramento 2021 survey, AVN
