Investing.com -- The Justice Department has issued subpoenas to several major U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, requesting information about whether they improperly closed customer accounts for political reasons, according to a Wednesday report by the Wall Street Journal.

The subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C., led by Jeanine Pirro, expand President Trump's effort to find evidence that banks discriminated against conservatives and politically controversial industries, including his own family.

The president said last year that JPMorgan and Bank of America cut him off from bank accounts and denied him new ones after his first riots in the Capitol on January 6th.

In August, Trump signed an executive order directing banking regulators to investigate whether financial institutions engaged in "politicized or unlawful debanking" and take appropriate action, including financial penalties. Pirro's office is now requesting information from some of the largest banks, including Wells Fargo, the report said.

Banks have stated they do not close accounts for religious or political reasons.

The review had primarily been the responsibility of the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, a Treasury Department bureau that oversees the nation's largest banks. Trump's executive order also instructed regulators to refer matters to the attorney general as necessary.

Regulators at the OCC had not sent referrals to the Justice Department and Pirro's office opened its investigations independently, according to the report. The OCC and U.S. attorney's office are coordinating on their investigations, the report said.

The subpoenas, some sent last year, ask banks to provide a list of people who were allegedly "debanked" and information about why the bank decided to close their accounts, the report said.

The OCC in December released a preliminary report saying it found early evidence of debanking by the nine largest banks. The agency said affected industries included oil and gas, coal, firearms manufacturers and the adult entertainment business.

Pirro's office is investigating whether banks' actions may have violated laws including the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989, a statute traditionally used to prosecute bank-related fraud, the report said.

Trump in January sued JPMorgan and its chief executive, Jamie Dimon, saying the bank improperly closed his accounts for political reasons following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The Trump family last year also sued Capital One, saying the bank notified Trump-affiliated businesses in 2021 that it was closing more than 300 accounts.

The banks have denied they acted illegally in closing the accounts.