Capital One Financial has asked a federal court to throw out litigation by the Trump Organization and Eric Trump that challenges the bank's decision years earlier to close accounts linked to the president's family business. In a filing made public on Friday, Capital One said the account closures were the product of a months-long review by its anti-money-laundering team and were taken in accordance with the bank's policies and relevant regulatory guidance.
The filing marks the first instance in which a bank has formally stated in court papers that anti-money-laundering concerns informed its decision to cut ties with accounts tied to the Trump Organization. Capital One is pressing to dismiss the suit and disputes the plaintiffs' characterization that the bank engaged in unlawful debanking - defined in the complaint as the denial of financial services on religious or political grounds.
Capital One noted in its filing that while it has never alleged that the Trump Organization engaged in illegal money laundering, the documents and allegations presented by the plaintiffs themselves show the account closures were motivated by AML concerns. "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 filing states.
The bank gave notice of its intent to terminate more than 300 accounts associated with the Trump Organization in March 2021. The Trump Organization and Eric Trump filed the current lawsuit in March 2025 in a federal court in Florida, asserting that the closures were politically driven and reflected Capital One's purportedly "woke" stance, and that the bank sought to profit from shifting political sentiments following the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
The Miami federal court has dismissed two prior complaints in the case but allowed the plaintiffs to refile amended versions. Capital One's response to the most recent amended complaint, submitted in July and defended in the Friday filing, says the newest pleading contains the same defects as the earlier ones.
In its filing, Capital One characterizes the Trump Organization's contention that the bank acted from political bias as "misguided," accusing the plaintiffs of relying on selective quotations that lack their full contextual meaning. The bank added that the transactional patterns it identified are the kinds of behaviors that federal banking guidance specifically flags for further scrutiny.
The filing comes amid a heightened policy backdrop. Since the outset of the president's second term, the administration has pressured large financial institutions, reflecting conservative concerns that banks are selectively targeting conservative individuals or organizations. The president signed an executive order in August 2025 aimed at barring discriminatory debanking.
Separately, in January, the president brought a similar legal action against JPMorgan Chase alleging discriminatory account closures. The article also recalls that during the president's first term in 2019 he sued Capital One and Deutsche Bank to try to prevent them from sharing his financial records with congressional investigators. At that time, reporting indicated that anti-money-laundering staff at Deutsche Bank had flagged certain transactions, a matter Deutsche Bank denied.
Contextual note: Capital One and the Trump Organization did not immediately provide responses to requests for comment on the latest filing.