Trump’s Capital One ‘De-Banking’ Suit Faces Key Survival Test

The Trump Organization’s lawsuit accusing Capital One Financial Corp. of illegally closing its accounts in 2021 for political reasons is set to face a key test in a Florida courtroom.

A federal judge in Miami is holding arguments Friday on Capital One’s request to toss out the so-called de-banking suit. The civil complaint was filed a year ago by President Donald Trump’s sprawling real estate company and its executive vice president, his son Eric Trump.

Capital One argues the suit should be dismissed because Trump’s business has failed to demonstrate that it has any evidence backing its theory about why the accounts were closed a few months after Trump’s first term ended. The bank in court filings has called the claims “threadbare.”

Trump and his supporters have long alleged that major banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp., unfairly discriminate against conservative customers. The Capital One case has emerged as a major early test of that theory.

The Trump Organization alleged in the suit that Capital One closed hundreds of its accounts based on a “woke” belief that it needed to distance itself from Trump “and his conservative political views.” Capital One calls that claim “false.”

“While Capital One closes bank accounts occasionally, it does so for legally and regulatorily permissible reasons, and plaintiffs plead no facts to suggest otherwise,” Capital One said in its request to toss the suit.

A ruling may be a bellwether for a similar suit filed by Trump in January against JPMorgan that seeks at least $5 billion in damages. JPMorgan has denied wrongdoing and said it is preparing a motion to dismiss that suit.

The suit against Capital One alleges it violated consumer protection laws by canceling the accounts on short notice, forcing the business to quickly move millions of dollars. Capital One contends that its customer agreements allow the bank to close accounts without notice and that it nevertheless gave Trump’s company three months to find new financial services.

Capital One’s cutoff of the Trump Organization came two months after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters, though that incident isn’t mentioned in the complaint. JPMorgan closed Trump’s accounts in February 2021.

The case is Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust v. Capital One, 25-cv-21596, US District Court, Southern District of Florida (Miami).

To contact the reporter on this story:
Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Molly Smith at msmith604@bloomberg.net

Steve Stroth

© 2026 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Used with permission.