Indianapolis ag company sues JPMorgan Chase over $3M freeze
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An Indianapolis-based agricultural chemicals company is suing JPMorgan Chase Bank in Indiana Commercial Court after the bank allegedly issued a months-long freeze on over $3 million tied to the company.
Agricultural Chemical Solutions Inc. and the wife of the company’s president are suing the bank for $40,178.24 in fees incurred because they allegedly were unnecessarily denied access to the more than $3 million. A representative for JP Morgan Chase did not immediately respond to Indiana Lawyer’s request for comment.
According to the lawsuit, Agricultural Chemical Solutions wired $3,166,660 from its business operating account with Star Financial Bank on Feb. 6 to the JPMorgan bank account of Bogumila Kopczynski, the wife of AgChem’s president, John Huntzinger.
The lawsuit says the money was to be used to pay off the company’s line of credit with Star Financial Bank.
On Feb. 8, JPMorgan froze Kopczynski’s accounts and issued a notice on Feb. 9 saying it had restricted her accounts, the complaint alleges.
On Feb. 13, plaintiffs sent the bank a written notice disputing the freeze and demanding access to the money. In the notice, plaintiffs stated that each day the funds were frozen caused damage to the plaintiffs. Specifically, Star Financial Bank’s line of credit accrued interest at a rate of $737.44 per day.
John Huntzinger told Indiana Lawyer he’s frustrated with how the incident has played out and that JPMorgan was difficult to communicate with while his wife’s account was frozen.
“I got Star calling on Chase, and Chase wouldn’t even talk to Star,” he said. “They wouldn’t even talk to me. They wouldn’t even talk to my wife, and they held our money and closed my wife’s account down for 47 days.”
The term of AgChem’s line of credit with Star expired around the same time JPMorgan froze Kopczynski’s account, and, because of the freeze, Star charged an additional $6,265 in legal fees against AgChem while negotiating a forbearance agreement.
On Feb. 18, plaintiffs filed complaints with state and federal regulators regarding JPMorgan’s actions.
Ten days later, JPMorgan responded to plaintiffs, writing that the bank closed Kopczynski’s accounts on Feb. 21 and mailed her a cashier’s check the same day containing the balance of her account minus the $3 million deposit, the lawsuit says.
According the complaint, JPMorgan said the $3 million would remain frozen until the bank completed an internal investigation.
The same day Kopczynski received the bank’s letter, she called the bank’s wire research department for assistance. During the conversation, the department told Kopczynski that Star Financial needed to authorize the return of the $3 million.
After not receiving the money by March 11, plaintiffs called defendants to get the money back. According to the lawsuit, the money was returned on March 25.