Trump Accounts Closed Due To Money-Laundering Probe

 By Mildred Robertson

Capital One Bank closed roughly 385 accounts linked to President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization in 2021 after identifying characteristics associated with potential money-laundering risk under its Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policies.

Trump went to court, alleging that Capital One unlawfully denied the organization financial services for political reasons following the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The Trump Organization accused the bank of political discrimination, arguing that the decision reflected the shifting political climate after the attack.

A motion filed by Capital One in a Florida federal court refutes that claim, stating that the decision followed several months of internal review by its Financial Crimes Compliance Team. The court filing over this past weekend requested that the lawsuit be dismissed, stating that “The closures were the result of months of analysis and careful review by Capital One’s AML team in accordance with bank policies and regulatory guidance.” 

According to Capital One, AML is an internal financial crimes and risk-compliance unit that investigates suspicious transactions, screens customer accounts against global watchlists, and ensures adherence to federal bank regulations. AML cited patterns in the flagged Trump accounts that were consistent with those identified through federal banking guidance as suspect.  

It is reported that Capital One had been fined $390 million by federal regulators just months before closing Trump’s accounts, due to lax anti-money laundering practices, which caused a heightened internal scrutiny of compliance issues. While Capital One did not actually accuse the Trump organization of illegal money laundering, it states that the accounts were closed based upon standard regulatory practices. The bank says that it never publicly disclosed why the accounts were closed and that the organization was given several months to move funds elsewhere.

It will be left up to the court to decided whether the "debanking" of Trumps accounts is anti-money laundering enforcement as stated by the bank, or is political discrimination. This litigation does, however, open the possibility that sensitive financial information related to the Trump accounts may become a matter of public record; an occurrence likely not considered by the Trump organization when bringing this suit.