Capital One Links Trump Organization Account Closures to Anti-Money Laundering Concerns

Capital One Financial has for the first time formally linked its decision to close the Trump Organization's bank accounts to anti-money laundering concerns, a significant disclosure made on Friday.

This marks the first instance a bank has publicly connected such concerns to Donald Trump's business.

The bank's assertion came as it sought to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the Trump Organization, which alleges it was illegally "debanked" – denying services on religious or political grounds.

Neither organization immediately responded to requests for comment.

While Capital One has never directly accused the Trump Organization of illegal money laundering, its latest court filing unequivocally states that "documents and Plaintiffs’ own allegations make clear that Capital One closed Plaintiffs’ accounts for anti-money laundering ("AML") reasons."

The bank emphasized that these closures were "the result of months of analysis and a careful review by Capital One’s AML team in accordance with bank policies and regulatory guidance."

Capital One first notified the Trump Organization of its intention to close more than 300 affiliated bank accounts in March 2021.

In response, the Trump Organization and Donald Trump’s son, Eric Trump, initiated a lawsuit in March 2025 in a Florida federal court.

They contend the accounts were shut down due to Capital One’s "woke" beliefs and a perceived desire to benefit from the political mood following the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

The federal court in Miami has twice dismissed complaints in the Capital One case, though it has consistently provided the plaintiffs with opportunities to submit amended filings.

Capital One maintained that the most recent version, filed in July, "suffers from the same fundamental flaws as their prior two pleadings."

In its Friday filing, Capital One characterized the Trump Organization’s allegations of political pretext as "misguided" and "based on cherry-picked quotations unsupported by the full context" of documents presented to the court.

The bank further highlighted that "The transaction patterns identified by Capital One are among the types of activity flagged by federal banking guidance."

Since the commencement of Trump's second term, his administration has intensified pressure on several large banks, echoing conservative grievances that these financial institutions are deliberately targeting the political right.

Trump signed an executive order in August 2025 aimed at prohibiting discriminatory debanking practices.

In January, he filed a separate lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase on similar grounds, underscoring the contentious policy environment Wall Street is navigating during his second term.

Earlier, in 2019, during his first term, Donald Trump sued both Capital One and Deutsche Bank in an effort to prevent them from disclosing financial records to Congress as part of a probe led by Democratic lawmakers.

Reports at the time indicated that anti-money laundering professionals at Deutsche Bank had flagged a series of transactions, although executives reportedly disregarded these warnings; Deutsche Bank subsequently denied the report.