(José Niño, Headline USA) Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot faces a lawsuit from JPMorgan Chase Bank over unpaid credit card debt exceeding $11,000. The bank served legal papers to Lightfoot at her $900,000 residence in October, according to a complaint reviewed by the Chicago Tribune.
Court documents show Lightfoot’s last payment on the card occurred in August when she paid $5,000. The bank declared the remaining balance a charge off in March after Lightfoot failed to object to the final statement. The total debt amounts to approximately $11,078, according to the New York Post.
The financial troubles appear unusual given Lightfoot’s substantial earnings history. She reported a gross adjusted income of $971,626 between 2014 and 2017 while working as a partner at law firm Mayer Brown. As Chicago’s mayor from 2019 to 2023, she earned $216,000 annually according to the Tribune.
Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is being sued by JPMorgan Chase over an unpaid MileagePlus United credit card balance of $11,078.01 pic.twitter.com/AvcKEtO38q
— Frank Calabrese (@FrankCalabrese) January 13, 2026
In 2021, Lightfoot reported adjusted gross income of $402,414. That same year she withdrew $210,000 in early distributions from her retirement savings to supplement her mayoral salary, the Tribune noted.
Lightfoot made history in 2023 when she became the first Chicago mayor in 40 years to lose a reelection bid. Her tenure was marked by rising crime rates and significant challenges to the city’s retail districts.
Since leaving office, the 63-year-old has taken several visiting professor positions including roles at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy, the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics, and Harvard University. Last March she joined consulting firm Charles River Associates as a senior consultant to its forensic services practice.
Lightfoot has recently launched the ICE Accountability Project, an online platform for documenting Chicago area residents’ encounters with immigration agents during the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz enforcement actions that were rolled out last September. She funds the initiative through private donors whose identities she has declined to reveal. The website operates on non-US servers to prevent censorship, according to Block Club Chicago.
During her time as mayor, Chicago experienced increased crime and significant retail vacancy along its famous Miracle Mile shopping district, which reached 30 percent vacancy following multiple looting incidents. Lightfoot also generated controversy in 2021 when she announced plans to grant one on one interviews exclusively with minority journalists, criticizing what she called the “overwhelming whiteness” of Chicago’s media establishment.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
