Capital One Claims It Debanked Trump Organization in 2021 over 'Money Laundering' Concerns, Not Political Bias

Capital One has asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit accusing it of debanking President Donald Trump’s company after the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol in Washington, DC, claiming it closed Trump Organization accounts following an anti-money-laundering review.

The bank submitted a court filing on Friday and said the internal review was conducted due to patterns that “are among the types of activity flagged by federal banking guidance,” Bloomberg reported Saturday.

“The filing does not give details about the transactions at issue or accuse Trump or his company of wrongdoing,” the outlet said. “The decision to close the accounts was made as part of a process involving the lender’s anti-money-laundering professionals ‘with decades of law enforcement experience,’ the bank said.”

“President Donald Trump’s trust and affiliated business entities” originally filed a lawsuit against Capital One in early 2025, alleging it improperly shut down over 300 accounts due to political bias after the incident on Capitol Hill, CBS News reported Monday:

In its latest filing, obtained by CBS News, Capital One argues the complaint should be dismissed with prejudice, saying the plaintiffs have failed to state a legally viable claim. The filing also offers new insight into the bank’s explanation for the account closures. According to the motion, Capital One says the accounts were identified for closure following reviews conducted by its anti-money-laundering department. Just months before, the bank was fined $390,000,000 by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network for failing to implement and enforce an effective anti-money laundering program.

In August 2025, President Trump signed an executive order to ban politicized debanking, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) later announced actions to end “unlawful debanking” in the federal banking system, Breitbart News reported.

Attorneys for President Trump filed a $5 billion lawsuit against JP Morgan Chase and its CEO Jamie Dimon in January for debanking the president in 2021.

The following month, JPMorgan Chase confirmed it closed Trump’s bank accounts after the riot at the capitol in 2021, according to the Associated Press (AP).