Capital One says it shut down hundreds of Trump Organization accounts over money-laundering concerns
By Allison Morrow, CNN
New York (CNN) — Capital One closed hundreds of Trump Organization accounts in 2021 “for anti-money laundering reasons,” the bank disclosed for the first time in a court filing Friday night.
President Donald Trump has maintained that his businesses were “debanked” for political reasons, and the Trump Organization sued Capital One in Florida federal court last year, claiming “considerable financial harm” from the loss of the accounts.
The latest filing from Capital One in the case before the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida reiterates the lender’s denial of any political motivation, stating that “the closures were the result of months of analysis” by a team “with decades of law enforcement experience.”
Capital One’s lawyers are seeking to have the case thrown out, stating that the Trump Organization’s lawsuit relies on vague and unsupported allegations of political discrimination.
A Trump Organization spokesperson told CNN in an email that “Capital One’s after-the-fact attempt to justify its debanking of Trump related accounts is completely baseless.” The spokesperson reiterated the Trump Organization’s claim that the bank “manufactured” a rationale for closing the accounts after the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol, in what “was plainly a politically motivated decision.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
The bank said it had identified “transaction patterns” that triggered the review, which was only made public because of the Trump Organization’s lawsuit. The filing didn’t offer details about the review, and it didn’t accuse the organization of specific wrongdoing.
Capital One said it permitted account holders several months to find new banking services.
The case is one of several lawsuits that Trump or his allies have filed since returning to the White House. The president in January sued JPMorgan Chase and its CEO, Jamie Dimon, on similar “debanking” claims, which the bank and Dimon have denied.
Debanking is an umbrella term for when a bank rejects a customer, which can happen for any number of reasons. Americans do not have a legal right to a bank account, and lenders often turn away people or businesses to comply with rules and regulations designed to protect the financial system.
But more recently, the term has been used by conservative groups and cryptocurrency firms that claim they are victims. Trump signed an executive order a year ago designed to punish banks for restricting services to customers based on their political or religious beliefs.
Banks are required by law to follow strict anti-money laundering protocols and often have vast monitoring systems to flag any potentially fraudulent activity. It’s not unusual for those systems to trigger a review, according to banking experts, though the decision to close accounts as a result is not one that’s taken lightly.
Representatives for Capital One didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
CNN’s Matt Egan contributed to this report.
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