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Investigators looking into President Donald Trump's finances are broadening their probe, and his longtime lender has reportedly handed over information on their real estate deals.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office subpoenaed Deutsche Bank last year, The New York Times reports, citing sources with knowledge of the inquiry. The New York prosecutors have been trying to force Trump to release his tax returns.
The bank has been a lender to the Trump Organization for nearly three decades. The subpoena was filed last year, per the newspaper, and Deutsche Bank agreed to provide the office of the district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., records and statements Trump gave the bank to secure loans.
In a filing this week, prosecutors pointed to “public reports of possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization."
That statement, along with revelations about Deutsche Bank, suggests for the first time that prosecutors are looking at whether or not Trump's company engaged in fraud, the Times reports. Until now, investigations have largely focused on allegations the Trump campaign paid hush money to women who said they had had affairs with the president.
Trump denies wrongdoing and claims the investigation is a ploy to damage him politically. Lawyers for the president have said Vance’s attempts amount to harassment.
“This is a continuation of the worst witch hunt in American history, and there’s nothing that I know even about it,” Trump said at a press briefing this week with regards to the possible criminal investigation. “It’s a terrible thing that they do, it’s really a terrible thing. The witch hunt has gone on long enough.”
Last year, an investigation from ProPublica found that the Trump Organization had consistently claimed lower income and higher costs in its tax filings than it did on documents provided to lenders. The publication obtained the tax records for the past nine years for multiple Trump-owned buildings.
Last month, the Supreme Court found that Trump had no right to stop state prosecutors seeking his returns, but that Congress could not see the documents for the time being.
Contact Miriam Hall at miriam.hall@bisnow.com.
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