Donald Trump A retired bank official testified Wednesday at the former president’s New York civil fraud trial that the company obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in loans using financial statements that the court deemed fraudulent.
Nicholas, a former risk management officer at Deutsche Bank, said Trump’s “statement of financial condition” was that he approved a $125 million loan in 2011 for the Doral golf resort in Florida and in 2012 for his Chicago hotel and apartment tower. The building was the key to a $107 million loan. Hager testified.
Haig said that while the bank did not conduct a comprehensive appraisal of Trump’s properties, it sometimes applied a considerable “discount” to the value of assets such as Trump Towers and golf courses.
“I think the phrase we used was probably a ‘sanity check’ on the numbers,” he said.
Haig, who headed the risk group at the bank’s private wealth management unit from 2008 to 2018, said the numbers helped Trump secure more loans and lower interest rates.
Last month, a judge ruled that the former president and his company, the Trump Organization, for years overstated the value of Trump’s assets and net worth in financial statements that provided deals and loans to banks, insurance companies and other institutions. thereby committing fraud.
Trump’s longtime financial chief Alan Weisselberg acknowledged in testimony Tuesday that the information in the financial statements not always accurate.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and emphasized disclaimers on the documents, which he said serve as a reminder to lenders to do their homework. The disclaimer said, among other things, that the financial statements are unaudited and that if others had more information, they “may draw different conclusions about Trump’s financial condition.”
“It’s like a ‘buyer beware’ clause,” he told reporters in a courthouse hallway last week. Trump claimed that the banks he did business with were not harmed, made a lot of money on his transactions, and had “no complaints so far.”
Haig testifies at trial of New York Attorney General Letitia James fraud lawsuit Oppose Trump, his companies and executives. This is the first time bank officials have testified in court about the impact of Trump’s financial statements on their ability to get loans.
Deutsche Bank’s rules require Trump to serve as guarantor on the Doral and Chicago loans in addition to pledging Miami-area resorts and Wabash Avenue skyscrapers as collateral.
Haig said Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management, which handled the loans, would not have approved the loans without “strong financial guarantees” from Trump.
Haig said he reviewed Trump’s financial statements before approving the loan and had no reason to doubt their validity at the time.
Haig said the documents paint Trump as a wealthy businessman with heavy investments in golf courses and other real estate, strong cash flow and little debt. Deutsche Bank representatives also met with Trump Organization executives to review the information, and bankers reviewed bank accounts and brokerage statements to verify his cash holdings, he said.
“I think the presentation of assets and liabilities is generally accurate,” Hager said of Trump’s financial statements.
Trump’s 2011 financial statements listed his net worth at $4.3 billion, although Deutsche Bank listed his fixed assets at about $2.4 billion in an internal credit report when he sought the Doral loan. The bank lowered the planned development value it gave by 75%, citing, for example, internal documents citing “uncertainties in the valuation of undeveloped land”. Bankers cut the listing value of his golf courses in half and disagreed over how to include golf membership deposits in his liquid assets for $94 million.
“Does this indicate that banks have the ability to review cash holdings and make adjustments?” Trump lawyer Jesus M. Suarez asked Haig.
The former banker said he wasn’t sure how well colleagues knew about members’ deposits, but “it seems to me that loan officers were somewhat reliant on the information provided to them by account personnel.”
The bank proposed a loan condition that required Trump, as guarantor, to maintain a net worth of at least $2.5 billion, excluding any value derived from his celebrity.
“As the final decision-maker, I need to be satisfied with the terms of the loan, including the covenants that protect the bank,” Hague said. He said the $2.5 billion benchmark was to protect banks if markets deteriorated.
Trump, the Republican leader heading into next year’s election, attended the first three days of the trial last week. He is expected to testify later in the trial.
In a pre-trial ruling last month, Judge Arthur Ngoren Trump, Weisselberg and other defendants found guilty years of fraud Trump’s financial statements overstated the value of his assets and net worth.
As punishment, Ngolon ordered a court-appointed receiver to take over control of some Trump companies, calling into question the future oversight of Trump Tower and other large properties.Court of Appeal on Friday blocked execution That aspect of the Ngolon ruling, at least for now.
The civil trial involved charges of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsifying business records. James, a Democrat, is seeking a $250 million fine and a ban on Trump doing business in New York.
Svlook
