Capital One Financial has defended its decision to close hundreds of bank accounts linked to the Trump Organization, arguing that the action followed an extensive anti-money laundering review rather than any political motivation.
In a court filing submitted on Friday, the bank asked a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Trump Organization and Eric Trump, insisting the account closures were based on compliance procedures and regulatory requirements.
The filing marks the first time the financial institution has publicly linked its decision to anti-money laundering concerns involving the Trump family’s business, although it stressed that it has never accused the Trump Organization of engaging in money laundering.
According to the court documents, “documents and Plaintiffs’ own allegations make clear that Capital One closed Plaintiffs’ accounts for anti-money laundering (‘AML’) reasons.
“The 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 notified the Trump Organization in March 2021 that it intended to shut down more than 300 accounts associated with the business.
The Trump Organization and Eric Trump later filed a lawsuit in March 2025, claiming the accounts were terminated because of the bank’s “woke” ideology and an attempt to align with the political climate that followed the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
Rejecting those claims, Capital One described the allegations as “misguided” and argued they relied on “cherry-picked quotations unsupported by the full context” of the evidence presented before the court.
The bank further stated, “The transaction patterns identified by Capital One are among the types of activity flagged by federal banking guidance.”
The dispute comes amid renewed scrutiny of alleged politically motivated “debanking” in the United States. Since returning to office for a second term, President Donald Trump has increased pressure on major financial institutions over claims that conservative individuals and organisations are being unfairly denied banking services.
In August 2025, Trump signed an executive order prohibiting discriminatory debanking practices. Earlier this year, he also sued JPMorgan Chase over similar allegations.
During his first term in office, Trump filed legal action against both Capital One and Deutsche Bank in an effort to stop them from releasing his financial records to Congress during a Democratic-led investigation.
Separately, reports previously claimed that anti-money laundering specialists at Deutsche Bank had raised concerns about certain transactions linked to Trump, although the bank denied those allegations at the time.
