Deutsche Bank has begun turning over financial records related to President Donald Trump to New York’s attorney general, CNN reports.
The bank, which was among few institutions willing to loan Trump money after a series of high-profile defaults and bankruptcies in the 90’s, was subpoenaed by New York Attorney General Letitia James last month in relation to the more than $2 billion in loans the bank provided Trump over two decades.
James is particularly focused on loans the bank gave Trump toward the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC; the Trump National Doral Miami; and the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, as well as his failed bid to buy the NFL’s Buffalo Bills in 2014.
In February, former longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen testified to Congress that Trump vastly inflated the worth of his assets to the bank in his bid to buy the Bills. The loan was ultimately rejected.
The House Financial Services and Intelligence Committees have also launched a joint investigation into Trump’s finances. Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters said last month the Deutsche Bank has been cooperating with their investigation.
Deutsche Bank’s relationship with Trump draws scrutiny:
The bank’s ties to Trump has long drawn scrutiny. For one, Trump still owed the bank $340 million when he took office and when the bank was fined $630 million by the Justice Department for laundering money out of Russia in 2017.
Even as major banks shunned Trump after a number of high-profile bankruptcies and defaults, Deutsche Bank loaned the president around $2.5 billion over 17 years.
In 2008, Trump defaulted on a loan worth of $640 million and even sued the bank for damages, seeking $3 billion. The bank cut ties with Trump, only to settle with him later and fund two more loans worth hundreds of millions, The New York Times reported.
This came despite bank officials being fully aware that Trump was repeatedly inflating the worth of his assets.
Cohen provided a document Trump submitted to the bank claiming he was worth more than $8 billion, with roughly half of that in undetermined “brand value.” The New York Times reported that officials at the bank routinely reduced his estimates of his assets’ value by 70 percent.
In another case, Trump claimed to have a net worth of $3 billion but bank officials determined his actual net worth was actually less than $800 million.
