[csusbpeace] 5 Ways the Trumps Allegedly Tried to Conceal Financial Fraud
- From: "raccoon" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> ("bigraccoon1")
- To: "CSUSBPEACE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <CSUSBPEACE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 5 Oct 2022 13:16:56 -0700
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/10/5-ways-the-trumps-allegedly-tried-to-conceal-financial-fraud/
<https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/10/5-ways-the-trumps-allegedly-tried-to-conceal-financial-fraud/>
5 Ways the Trumps Allegedly Tried to Conceal Financial Fraud
The New York attorney general’s lawsuit is full of jaw-dropping details.
AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File
New York Attorney General Letitia James recently filed a $250 million civil
fraud lawsuit against Donald Trump and his adult children, alleging the
family had deliberately misled banks, insurance companies, and tax
authorities about the value of Trump’s various properties. The heart of that
allegation isn’t new—James has been fighting with the Trumps for nearly two
years over access to company employees and records. But the case has now
revealed an enormous amount
<https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/09/letitia-james-trump-lawsuit/>
about the inner-workings of the Trump Organization. That includes what James
says the Trumps did to hide their alleged deceptions.
As part of her suit, James is attempting to prove that the Trumps did in fact
try to conceal their efforts to use misleading numbers. The Trumps have
argued that they did nothing wrong and have accused James of leading a
political witch hunt against them. Here are a few of James’ most
eyebrow-raising allegations:
1. Ghosted Deutsche Bank on answers about bad numbers
The Trumps’ biggest lender for years has been German banking giant Deutsche
Bank, which worked with the family starting in the early 2000s. But by 2011,
the bank’s commercial real estate division had grown leery of lending to
them. According to James, the Trumps then convinced the bank’s separate
private wealth division, which caters to high-net worth individuals, to lend
money for a slew of Trump projects, such as the Doral golf course in Florida
and the Old Post Office hotel in Washington, DC. To do so, the family
allegedly made false claims about how much Trump was really worth. After
media reports began questioning some of the basis of Trump’s wealth and his
assertions about his net worth, Deutsche Bank sent the Trumps a letter on
October 29, 2020, asking about the reported discrepancies.
According to James, the Trumps simply didn’t answer for more than a month.
Finally, in early December, Alan Garten, the Trump Organization’s chief
lawyer, sent a note back to Deutsche.
Deutsche immediately responded with another, more detailed request for
info—and a warning that Trump could be in default of his loans if he had
misrepresented his finances. On December 16, Garten replied that he would try
to get an answer for them. Deutsche never heard back, according to James.
2. Allowing insurers to review Trump’s finances only in person
James says Trump didn’t just use fraudulent statements of financial condition
to get loans he didn’t deserve, she charges that he was also dishonest with
insurance companies, convincing them to give him more coverage for less. When
insurers came asking to see proof of his worth, James says the Trumps often
made things difficult, requiring some insurers to only look at financial
statements in person, in a room.
3. Sending their accountants bad info
James’ suit hinges on the statements of financial condition the Trumps
provided to banks and insurers, statements that were supposed to be accurate
pictures of Trump’s net worth and the value of his various properties. James
outlines a whole series of allegedly fraudulent tricks the Trumps used, like
using the wrong valuation method, or pretending rent-controlled apartments
weren’t rent controlled. James says they also simply pushed numbers around to
obscure the truth from the accountants who had to compile the statements.
4. Not creating a paper trail
James alleges that the Trumps improperly valued some land north of New York
City, known as the Seven Springs Estate, that Trump had bought to try to
develop into a golf course. The course never happened, but James says the
Trumps played with the value of the property, sometimes inflating it to make
it look more valuable and other times trying to make it look less valuable
for tax purposes. Throughout, James says that at Trump’s direction, there was
an effort to minimize the paper trail.
According to James, Sherri Dillon, an attorney who has worked for Trump for
years, gave specific instructions to people working on the Seven Springs
project to avoid sending emails and to try to keep conversations about the
project limited to phone calls. Dillon is not named as a defendant in James’
suit and did not respond to a request for comment.
5. Not turning over documents to James
James’ relationship with the Trumps started amicably enough at the beginning
of her investigation back in late 2019. At that time, the Trumps voluntarily
turned over documents she requested, and a number of Trump employees sat for
interviews. However, in the months running up to the 2020 election, the
company suddenly took a much more defensive posture and began refusing to
hand over documents or make employees available. When James began subpoenaing
documents and interviews, the Trumps continued to drag their feet—to the
point that a New York Superior Court judge eventually held Trump in contempt
and fined him $110,000
<https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/05/trump-pays-110000-fine-to-new-yorks-attorney-general/>
for not turning over documents that James had a right to see.
As part of Trump’s effort to get out of that contempt charge, Trump attorney
Alina Habba sent the judge a letter in which she said she had personally
searched Mar-a-Lago for relevant documents.
But as a result of the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago this summer in a separate
investigation related to classified documents, James seems to have grown
skeptical about the thoroughness of Habba’s search. James’ lawsuit suggests
that, even after the contempt ruling, there are indications that Trump held
back documents at Mar-a-Lago—not just classified ones, but financial ones.
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