Capital One says it closed a whole lot of financial institution accounts related to President Donald Trump and his companies in 2021 “for anti-money laundering causes,” in keeping with a latest courtroom submitting from the monetary establishment.
Capital One disclosed the cash laundering assessment for the primary time in a movement to throw out the president’s lawsuit towards the financial institution over the closure of his companies’ financial institution accounts, which the Trump household has alleged was politically motivated and illegal.
Whereas the financial institution didn’t accuse the Trump Group of cash laundering, Capital One mentioned Trump’s accounts have been closed after a monthslong assessment by the financial institution’s anti-money laundering group — not for political causes as alleged by the president and his household.
“The closures have been the results of months of study and a cautious assessment by Capital One’s AML group in accordance with financial institution insurance policies and regulatory steerage,” attorneys for the financial institution mentioned in a courtroom submitting on July 31. “Capital One by no means publicized the termination resolution nor its confidential inside course of giving rise to the closure, and it permitted Plaintiffs a number of months (and granted a number of extensions) to seek out new banking companies, which they did.”
In an announcement to ABC Information, a spokesperson for the Trump Group alleged that Capital One was attempting to fabricate a justification to shut the accounts “to hide what was plainly a politically motivated resolution to debank the Trump accounts.”
“Capital One’s after-the-fact try and justify its debanking of Trump associated accounts is totally baseless. Following the occasions of January 6, 2021, Capital One manufactured a publish hoc rationale by selectively resurrecting a handful of remoted transactions that had occurred years earlier and had by no means as soon as been recognized as trigger for concern,” the spokesperson mentioned, referring to the Jan.6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The lawsuit, filed towards Capital One final yr by Trump’s belief, his firms, and his son Eric Trump, alleged that the monetary establishment canceled roughly 385 financial institution accounts related to Trump for political causes following the general public backlash to the Jan. 6 assault.
President Donald Trump listens to questions from reporters throughout a Cupboard assembly at Camp David, the presidential retreat, July 31, 2026 in Camp David, Maryland.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Pictures
“Plaintiffs have cause to imagine that Capital One’s unilateral resolution took place because of political and social motivations and Capital One’s unsubstantiated, ‘woke’ beliefs that it wanted to distance itself from President Trump and his conservative political opinions. In essence, Capital One ‘de-banked’ Plaintiffs’ Accounts as a result of Capital One believed that the political tide for the time being favored doing so,” the Trumps wrote of their lawsuit.
Trump equally sued JPMorgan Chase over debanking allegations. JP Morgan mentioned Trump’s lawsuit has “no advantage” and that they shut accounts as a result of they pose “authorized or regulatory danger for the corporate.” That lawsuit is pending.
Capital One as a substitute argues that the idea for closing the accounts was the prolonged anti-money laundering evaluation and assessment performed by the financial institution. Months earlier than closing the accounts, Capital One agreed to pay a $390,000,000 penalty to the Monetary Crimes Enforcement Community for failing to implement and preserve an efficient anti-money laundering program.
“Capital One’s resolution to shut Plaintiffs’ accounts solely turned public due to Plaintiffs’ personal resolution to pursue this litigation,” the movement mentioned.
U.S. District Decide Roy Altman — a Trump appointee — tossed Trump’s lawsuit earlier this yr as a result of his attorneys did not state a authorized declare, however he allowed them to file an amended criticism final month.
New York prosecutors closely scrutinized Trump’s monetary data after he left the presidency in a civil case introduced towards Trump that targeted on the alleged inflation of his assets to get higher mortgage phrases, and a prison case centered on the allegation that Trump falsified business records to cover hush cash funds made to grownup movie actress Stormy Daniels. Neither case concerned allegations of cash laundering.
Trump was convicted in 2024 for falsifying enterprise data in addition to discovered accountable for inflating his business assets. He has appealed each circumstances, and a mid-level courtroom tossed the monetary penalty related along with his civil case final yr.
