President Donald Trump committed “instances of outright fraud” as he helped his parents dodge taxes and boost the money he got from them, according to a detailed New York Times investigation published Tuesday.
The president received today’s equivalent of $413 million from the real estate holdings of his father, Fred Trump, the newspaper reported, citing a “vast trove of confidential tax returns and financial records.” The findings contrast with the story Trump has always told about himself – that he built up wealth and success after only getting a small loan from his father.
Trump and his siblings in part “set up a sham corporation to disguise millions of dollars in gifts from their parents,” according to the Times. The article notes that tax experts say the president would be unlikely to face criminal charges related to the conduct because of how much time has passed since much of it took place in the 1990s.
In a statement to the Times, Trump lawyer Charles Harder denied any allegations of fraud and tax evasion and said “the facts upon which The Times bases its allegations are extremely inaccurate.” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also backed up Trump’s claims about his wealth to the newspaper. She said he took a $1 million loan from his father and paid it back.
One of the most eye-popping portions of the story deals with how much money Trump was making when he was a child:
By age 3, Mr. Trump was earning $200,000 a year in today’s dollars from his father’s empire. He was a millionaire by age 8. By the time he was 17, his father had given him part ownership of a 52-unit apartment building. Soon after Mr. Trump graduated from college, he was receiving the equivalent of $1 million a year from his father. The money increased with the years, to more than $5 million annually in his 40s and 50s.
Earlier in the day, Forbes reported that Trump’s net worth has fallen by more than $1 billion since 2015.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request to comment.
