Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot sued over credit card debt

CHICAGO — Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot was sued late last year over unpaid credit card debt, records show.

Lightfoot was served with a lawsuit filed at her Chicago home in October alleging that JP Morgan Chase Bank had failed to pay a bill of approximately $11,078, according to a copy of the complaint filed in Cook County Circuit Court.

The lawsuit says Lightfoot did not object to the bank’s last statement before declaring a charge-off on the debt in March. His last payment on the card was for $5,000 in August 2025, according to the complaint, and the next hearing in the case is scheduled for December.

Lightfoot declined to comment Monday through a spokeswoman.

Lightfoot leaves office in May 2023. not making it to the second round during his second-term campaign. Since then, he has worn various hats as a private citizen; In addition to serving as an adjunct professor at the University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy, he has taught at Harvard University and the University of Chicago Institute of Politics.

Other roles include: Appointed as private detective in the corruption investigation of embattled former Mayor of Dolton Tiffany Henyard and in the launch of a nonprofit called the Chicago Vibrant Neighborhoods Collective.

Last week, Lightfoot introduced The “ICE Accountability Project” was billed as a tool to collect and document alleged criminal or abusive behavior by federal immigration officials during Operation Midway Blitz.

Lightfoot, who grew up in the working-class town of Massillon, Ohio, reported an adjusted gross income of $402,414 in 2021, the last year for which the Tribune requested her return. He reported taking $210,000 in early distributions from his retirement accounts that year in addition to his mayoral salary.

While working as a partner at law firm Mayer Brown before becoming mayor, Lightfoot reported an average adjusted gross income of $971,626 from 2014 to 2017.

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