Capital One closed bank accounts held by President Donald Trump in 2021 after identifying financial activity that exhibited characteristics of money laundering, as revealed in a court filing over the weekend. The court filing is associated with a lawsuit initiated against Capital One by one of Trump’s financial holding companies shortly after he was inaugurated for a second term. Trump claims that Capital One unlawfully terminated his accounts due to political motivations, subsequent to the events of January 6 at the US Capitol. Capital One seeks the dismissal of the lawsuit. “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,” the bank said in the court filing. The term “AML” is an abbreviation for anti-money laundering. Trump has initiated legal action against Capital One and JPMorgan Chase, claiming that they engaged in debanking him following his departure from office in 2021.
Debanking transpires when financial institutions terminate customer accounts due to perceived financial, legal, or reputational risks associated with those customers. Both banks have refuted claims that they terminated their associations with the president, his sons, and other affiliated enterprises for political motivations. The lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase is pursuing damages amounting to USD 5 billion. JPMorgan has stated that it does not terminate accounts for political motivations; rather, it closes accounts “with or without cause” as well as those that pose “legal or regulatory risk.” In July, following a period of inactivity lasting several months regarding the original lawsuit, legal representatives for the president submitted an amended complaint asserting that the bank had severed ties with him due to political motivations. The bank asserts that the new allegations lack merit, contending that the complaint is founded on “new theories are based on cherry-picked quotations.”
President Trump’s legal team rejected that assertion on Monday, yet they did not respond to the internal findings from the bank. “Capital One, along with other major banks, de-banked President Trump, his family, and his businesses for blatantly political reasons,” a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said. “President Trump’s powerful lawsuit holds Capital One accountable for its disgraceful conduct, and we look forward to seeing this matter through to a just and proper conclusion.” Conservatives have consistently claimed that banks engage in the practice of debanking them and their political associates. The allegations intensified following Operation Choke Point, a program implemented during the Obama Administration in which regulators urged banks to withdraw financial services from sectors such as the firearm industry, tobacco, and payday lenders, among others. The cryptocurrency industry claimed it was similarly affected by debanking under the Biden Administration. In August 2025, Trump enacted an executive order named “Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans,” which instructed federal bank regulators to cease examinations of banks concerning their business relationships.
The Trump administration has issued subpoenas for records from the largest banks as part of an inquiry into purported debanking activities. Trump maintained over 300 bank accounts with Capital One prior to their closure. The bank accounts were associated with a diverse array of Trump-branded enterprises, including a golf course and a winery. Trump had maintained a banking relationship with Capital One for over a decade prior to the closure of the accounts. In its court filing, Capital One asserted that the decision to close Trump’s accounts in 2021 was not motivated by political considerations. Instead, the action was solely a response to activities within the accounts that had been flagged by the bank’s anti-money laundering experts. “Capital One never publicised the termination decision nor its confidential internal process giving rise to the closure, and it permitted Plaintiffs several months (and granted several extensions) to find new banking services, which they did,” the bank said.