Follow the Dirty Money
Laundering gets you de-banked. No wonder Trump turned to unregulated crypto-grift.
Donald Trump claims to be a “developer” and a “builder.” But is he, really? The building vanity projects he has undertaken — demolishing the East Wing, a faux “state fair” on the Mall crafted out of duct tape and cardboard, the Saddam-ification of the Oval Office, and of course the reflecting pool — have been disastrous. This shouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with his decades-long history of shoddy construction using questionable contractors. To be perfectly fair: these are practices he learned from his father, Fred Trump, whose apartment developments in Brooklyn and Queens boasted glitzy lobbies to mask the substandard materials and poor workmanship that went into the actual living spaces.
Trump is not now, nor never has been, a builder. He has shown a kind of marketing genius, cloaking himself in the image of a wildly successful businessman with a golden touch. In fact his business history is checkered at best: six bankruptcies, three shuttered casinos — how, exactly, does one bankrupt a casino? — and a string of retail failures (Trump Wine, anyone?) that should have made him poison to any reputable bank. Behind all the smoke and mirrors, and behind the obvious grift, something else was going on.
I have long suspected that Trump’s actual business was money laundering, primarily for the Russian mob and the oligarchs he loves to emulate: Russian money was pouring into the real estate deals he was marketing despite his repeated denials. As far back as 2008 Don Jr. admitted: “We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia,” and, “There’s indeed a lot of money coming for new-builds and resale reflecting a trend in the Russian economy and, of course, the weak dollar versus the ruble.” Not to mention the oligarchs’ ever-growing need to park their rubles offshore. Trump himself denied, of course, that he ever did any business with Russia — even while he was negotiating the never-built Trump Tower Moscow and even while his campaign was engaged with shady Russian characters. (These days, his FBI Director is jetting off to meet with Russian intelligence officials. Um, why?) But facts have never really mattered to Trump, who lives in his own world of alternative facts fed to him by his groveling toadies cabinet secretaries.
Suspicions aren’t proof. But now there are verifiable facts.
Way back in 2021, Capital One notified the Trump Organization that it was terminating some 380 bank accounts. Under the terms of service either party could close the accounts, for any reason or no reason at all. Trump did what Trump does: stalled, wheedled and whined for more time than the contractual notice period. Extensions were granted, but in the end the accounts were closed. End of story, or it could have been — if not for Trump’s greed and stupidity.
In 2025, Trump sued Capital One (as Trump does), complaining (without any supporting evidence, as Trump does) that he was being un-banked for political reasons: that is, in the aftermath of January 6, 2021, Capital One decided it didn’t need or want him as a customer. Capital One demurred, reminding the plaintiff that it didn’t need a reason and that he’d be happier if he didn’t insist on getting one. Trump demanded (as Trump does) discovery in the case; and last week Capital One revealed the reason that the accounts were closed because, following an investigation, the bank’s anti-money laundering unit concluded that these accounts were being used to… launder money. (One does wonder why the Trump Organization would need 380+ bank accounts. Unless, you know, they were trying to hide something.)
The timing is interesting here: Trump sued after he was back in office, probably thinking that as president he could shake down Capital One for something. Instead, Capital One met his discovery demand knowing that it would reveal, publicly, things Trump would much rather keep out of the news. Oopsie.
So Trump is again (as Trump does) literally hoist on his own petard: he likes to make a lot of noise and use the courts as a cudgel against his perceived enemies; he can’t imagine that someone might not fall on the ground for him. I am tempted to move my own many bank accounts to Capital One, in solidarity. They certainly did better than Deutsche Bank in the Trump banking follies.
One irony here (and we should stop looking, because it’s exhausting): Trump’s crypto schemes scams have bagged him something like $2 billion in the last year while costing his investors marks even more. That sum is likely far more than his annual take from his Russian laundromat and thanks to Todd Blanche, maybe, he’ll never have to pay taxes on it. But that’s not enough for Trump, whose greed is as bottomless as his need for affirmation. He wants it all. And he’ll burn down the nation — and the world, if he has to — to get it.