Drew Peterson suing bank for freezing line of credit

Chicago Tribune
by Steven Schmadeke
October 27, 2009

Drew Peterson is suing JPMorgan Chase for freezing a $220,000 line of homeowner's credit he was using to pay for legal and other expenses, according to a lawsuit filed late Monday.

The federal lawsuit alleges Chase -- shortly after Peterson was arrested in May on charges he drowned his third wife -- illegally shut the spigot on the home equity line that Peterson and fourth wife Stacy took out on their Bolingbrook home in 2005.

The bank sent Peterson a letter dated May 15 saying the account was being frozen due to Peterson's "imprisonment." Affidavits filed by Chase executives in response to subpoenas filed by Peterson's criminal defense attorney said it was a "pure banking decision" and that Peterson would be "unable to pay his account if we allowed it to be substantially drawn down."

In his lawsuit Peterson argues that his income has improved since taking out the original line of credit. The former Bolingbrook police sergeant now makes $108,909 a year -- including $2,758 in monthly Social Security benefits and his $6,000-a-month police pension...

Joel Brodsky, Peterson's lawyer, recently said he would not fight efforts by Peterson's homeowner's insurance to remove itself from paying for his legal defense in a civil wrongful death lawsuit filed by Savio's family.