A former managing director in Citigroup's wealth division filed a lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court, alleging she was terminated in April 2025 after flagging risk‑management flaws tied to a potential Donald Trump account. The complaint, filed under the pseudonym Jane Doe, says she warned senior staff about inadequate know‑your‑customer checks and the prospect of a numbered, hard‑to‑monitor account.

The redacted filing claims the executive identified “regulatory and compliance risks” when Citi weighed opening a Trump‑related account, prompting her dismissal days after escalating the issue. Citi has denied merit, stating it will prove the suit baseless. The case arrives as banks face heightened scrutiny over politically exposed persons and recent regulatory shifts that removed “reputational risk” from supervisory frameworks.

Citi’s CEO Jane Fraser has publicly praised Trump, even accompanying him on a recent China trip, and the bank revised its code of conduct in 2025 to ban political discrimination while loosening earlier restrictions on firearms clients. The lawsuit underscores internal tensions over client onboarding standards and could pressure other institutions to tighten due‑diligence protocols.