Kathrine Frich
The Trump group reportedly received no warning to fix any compliance issues before losing access to their money.
Banking is built on trust, but sometimes a bank decides a customer is no longer worth the risk.
When that customer happens to be one of the most famous families in the world, a simple account closure can quickly turn into a massive legal battle.
A messy breakup
Capital One wants out of a massive lawsuit. The bank recently asked a federal judge in Florida to dismiss a case brought by the Trump Organization.
The dispute traces back to 2021, when the bank shut down roughly 385 accounts connected to Donald Trump, his son Eric, and various family businesses. Those businesses included a golf course developer and a winery.
The former president’s team claims the bank dumped them for political reasons following the January 6 Capitol riot. But the bank tells a very different story, according to court documents cited by NPR.
Following the money
Capital One says politics had nothing to do with it. Instead, the bank points to a lengthy review carried out by its financial crimes unit.
Lawyers for the bank wrote that the evidence will “make clear that Capital One closed Plaintiffs’ accounts for anti-money laundering (‘AML’) reasons.”
The bank insists this decision came after months of deep analysis. The internal team behind the review supposedly included experts who brought decades of law enforcement experience to the table.
Even so, the Trump group reportedly received no warning to fix any compliance issues before losing access to their money.
Broad contract rules
The bank is standing firmly behind the fine print of its customer agreements. Capital One argues it had the right to close an account “at any time, for any or no reason and without notice.”
The Trump businesses do not dispute that specific contract rule. In fact, the judge overseeing the dispute dismissed an earlier version of the lawsuit in March for a similar reason.
Now, Capital One wants this amended complaint thrown out for good. The bank claims federal secrecy laws actually prevent it from sharing details about its internal investigations.
Fighting the banks
This courtroom clash is just one piece of a much larger puzzle. The Trump family is also suing JPMorgan Chase over similar account closures from the exact same time period.
Last August, the president signed an executive order targeting financial institutions that shut down accounts for political reasons. Conservatives have labelled this practice as debanking.
For Capital One and the Trump team, this is familiar territory. The president previously sued the bank in 2019 to stop it from handing his financial records over to a congressional committee.
Sources: NPR, AP
