(RightWing.org) – Former President Donald Trump is facing numerous legal issues as of late. He’s been indicted on 91 felony charges and is a defendant in two civil cases. One of those cases was brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James and relates to the former POTUS allegedly overstating his finances in order to secure loans and other funding. New York is suing Trump for $250 million, and during the trial, a lot has come to light about his relationship with Deutsche Bank.
Relationship Based on Lies?
Trump took the stand during his trial and in one pivotal moment, admitted that one of the reasons he submitted financial statements — seemingly confirming that the valuations of the properties listed were inflated — “to induce lending.” This led to an unraveling of sorts, as to the relationship between the former president and Deutsche Bank, and a telling of the many times the institution fell for the alleged lies.
According to Forbes, there were multiple times Trump fooled the bank. For instance, one of the valuations for his property at 40 Wall Street lists the building as containing 72 floors. It only has 63. The valuation was placed at $541.6 million, but that could be overinflated by $50 million.
Then, there’s Trump Tower, a building that offers condos and office space for rent. The valuation states that the skyscraper has 68 levels, but since it’s missing floors six through 13, it only has 60 floors. The credit report on the building says it offers 114,000 square feet of retail space and 178,000 of commercial space. The retail space, according to an SEC document, is only a reported 60,000, a significant 54,000 less than its valuation, which, based on the specs provided, puts the building (erroneously) at $349 million.
Deutsche Bank also reported trusted income statements of a Miami golf course that claimed a net operating income of $12.6 million in 2017. It was really $4.3 million.
The bank relied on the information in many of these statements to provide loans and funding to Trump and his businesses.
Ivanka’s Testimony
Ivanka Trump also took the witness stand and provided testimony surrounding her father’s business endeavors. The prosecution wanted insight into her employment when she worked as The Trump Organization’s executive vice president. In key testimony, she was presented with an email where she seemingly acknowledged that her father wouldn’t be able to meet the necessary obligation for one loan in particular that required him to have a net worth exceeding $3 billion.
Ivanka pushed for the loan to go through anyway and eventually, the parties struck a deal. Trump’s net worth was stated as $4.3 billion according to financial statements he submitted, but James’ office says he was only worth $1.6 billion at the time.
In 2021, following the events of January 6 at Capitol Hill, Deutsche Bank cut all ties with Trump. Yet, the financials show the extent of the relationship that existed between the two prior to that date — and a lot of that may have been based on falsified reports as Nicholas Haigh, a former risk management officer with the institution, testified.
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