New York Attorney General Letitia James has issued subpoenas to Deutsche Bank and Investors Bank, as part of an inquiry she has opened into President Trump’s business dealings. CBS News confirms that the subpoenas are related to the financing of four Trump Organization projects and a failed attempt to buy the Buffalo Bills back in 2014. The New York Times first reported the existence of the investigation
In the civil inquiry, James is seeking loan applications, mortgages, lines of credit and other financial transactions related to the Trump International Hotel in the District of Columbia, the Trump National Doral and the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago.
Deutsche Bank was listed on Mr. Trump’s financial disclosure forms as his biggest creditor. According to a 2018 disclosure form, he owes the bank at least $130 million. And over the past couple of years, Germany’s largest bank has attracted scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers for its ties to the president. In 2017, Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee asked for results of a review the bank reportedly took of accounts held by Mr. Trump and members of his family to see if there were any connections to the Russian government, in relation to several governmental probes into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The bank rejected those demands, citing privacy laws.
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., recently told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the House would be examining “persistent” allegations that Russians laundered money through the Trump Organization. In order to get to the bottom of those claims, Schiff said his committee panel would talk with some of the banks that did business with Mr. Trump, including Deutsche Bank, which he says has had a “history of laundering Russian money.”
Mr. Trump was also previously caught in litigation with the bank over outstanding balances on construction loans.
The new probe comes after Mr. Trump’s former attorney and personal fixer Michael Cohen recently testified to Congress that the president had inflated assets to obtain a bank loan from Deutsche Bank, which is technically considered fraud, in order to purchase the Bills team, but that effort never came to fruition.
Deutsche Bank said in a statement to CBS News, “We remain committed to cooperating with authorized investigations.” The office of the New York attorney general declined to comment on the reports. A request for comment from the Trump Organization was not returned.
Pat Milton contributed to this report.
