PHILADELPHIA, PA—A former president of middle market commercial banking at JPMorgan Chase says the bank tried to pressure him to get a nonprofit board to scuttle the settlement of an affordable housing lawsuit, and fired him when he refused.

Wayne Trotman of New Hope, PA, filed a lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, alleging that the bank wanted him to use his position on the board of The Redevelopment Fund to stop the out-of-court settlement of an affordable housing dispute in Mount Holly, NJ.

“Mr. Trotman's claims are baseless and we fully intend to fight this in court,” says Erich Timmerman, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Trotman, a veteran commercial banker who had held positions at Summit Bank, Fleet Bank, and others, became president of the Mid-Atlantic middle market business at JPMorgan Chase in 2011, the lawsuit states.

JPMorgan arranged for Trotman to become a board member of TRF, the suit says.

Mount Holly had tried to use its eminent domain powers to acquire more than 300 housing units in Mount Holly Gardens, a housing development primarily occupied by low income residents. Trotman's lawsuit claims the town planned to pay residents the market value of their properties, about $32,000 to $49,000 each, and then construct new homes selling for $200,000 to $275,000.

Affordable housing advocates had sued to block the condemnation, charging that the low income, mostly African-American residents, would suffer “disparate impact” from the plan, and wouldn't be able to afford new homes in the upscale development.

After a number of appeals, the US Supreme Court accepted the case, but before it could review the litigation, a coalition of affordable housing advocates including an affiliate of TRF developed a settlement proposal that was going to be considered by Mount Holly's governing body.

Shortly before that settlement meeting, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, who is president and CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable, an industry lobbying group, emailed Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan and other bank CEOs suggesting the banks use the executives they had placed on the TRF board to try to get the organization to back out of the settlement talks, the lawsuit alleges.

Trotman's lawsuit argues that Pawlenty believed the Supreme Court ruling would favor the banking industry regarding the “disparate impact” test used in affordable housing litigation, so he did not want the litigation settled before a ruling.

The JPMorgan Chase spokesman, Timmerman, declined to comment on the Pawlenty email. Alison Hawkins, vice president of communications at the Financial Services Roundtable, did not respond to several emails seeking comment.

Trotman's lawsuit claims one of the bank's attorneys asked him to use his seat on the TRF board to get the settlement talks delayed or ended. The lawsuit says Trotman declined to do so, citing his fiduciary responsibility to the nonprofit board.

Shortly after that, the affordable housing litigation was settled, without Supreme Court intervention. After that, Trotman alleges, his 2013 bonus was cut by 36%, and later in 2014, he received a poor performance evaluation and shortly after that was terminated.