Chase Bank has allegedly closed hundreds of accounts held by adult entertainment industry workers, offering no explanation for the closings. Perez Hilton broke the story, publishing a letter the bank sent to porn star Teagan Presley.
“I called them and they told me that because I am, I guess, public and am recognizable in the adult business, they’re closing my account,” Presley told XBiz. Several other stars, including Dakota Skye and Veronica Avluv, also say they’re accounts were shut down.
Michael Fattorosi, an adult entertainment lawyer consulted in XBiz’s article, said that he’d encountered similar cases before, but not on such a large scale:
“Throughout my practice I’ve had clients that have had their bank accounts closed, once the bank recognizes or determines that they’re in the adult industry. I’ve seen that on numerous occasions,” he said. “What I’ve never seen is a bank taking a position and sending out mass letters.”
This isn’t the first time Chase has turned up its nose at the adult industry. Last year, MRG Entertainment filed a lawsuit against the bank for refusing the studio a loan on moral grounds.
This kind of discrimination is shameful no matter where it comes from, but that it is Chase doing the moralizing — Chase, subsidiary of a company that paid $1.7 billion to settle criminal charges against it this year and $13 billion on a civil suit from Department of Justice in 2013 — feels especially cruel.
