To catch a thief, throttle a banker

BY HER own admission, Ashley Erickson had such limited dealings with her bank that her greatest failing as a customer might have been the nugatory profits she generated: no credit cards, no loans, just deposits from her employers and payments for her rent and her children’s gymnastic classes. But in mid-April she received a letter from Chase saying she was a “high-risk” customer and her account would be closed on May 11th. Ms Erickson responded by tweeting about her troubles to the 188,000 fans who follow her career as a stripper, under the name of Teagan Presley. They responded, she said, by complaining to Chase, which nonetheless advanced the closing date and shut down her husband’s account as well.

Many other people and firms have suffered similar snubs, thanks to “Operation Choke Point”, an anti-fraud campaign of America’s Justice Department—or so argues a scathing report released on May 29th by a congressional committee. It claims the operation was designed to strangle legitimate businesses that the government objects to for ideological reasons, such as payday lenders or gun dealers. The method is to deny them access to banks and payment systems, by prosecuting payment firms that abet suspect transactions.