According to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, the Trump Organization allegedly overstated the value of Ivanka Trump‘s apartment in order to secure a lease for the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC.
As part of her ongoing civil investigation, New York Attorney General Letitia James has subpoenaed records related to Trump’s DC hotel from the federal government, according to the Washington Post.
“Letitia James’ investigation is reportedly looking into whether Trump got the lease on that property through fraud — whether the Trump Organization lied about his assets in order to obtain the lease for the property and the loans they used to pay for it,” Maddow reported.
“We know from documents that were filed by Attorney General James last month that it was Trump’s adult daughter, Ivanka Trump, who — according to the attorney general — negotiated the lease for that hotel with the federal government and negotiated a loan from Deutsche Bank to pay for it,” she added.
“Tish James is arguing that the means by which the Trump Organization described their own financial condition in order to get the lease and the loan were both fraudulent. Here’s one example.” As per Rawstory, the Trump Organization included the worth of apartments it owned, including the one Ivanka Trump was renting from the company at the time, on Park Avenue in New York City, in its statement of assets used to acquire the lease and loan for the DC hotel, according to Maddow.
“Under her rental agreement, she apparently had the option to buy that apartment if she wanted to, for the cost of $8.5 million,” Maddow reported. “But in the forms that were submitted to get the loans for the DC hotel, that very same apartment was listed as being worth more than $20 million. Then a few years later, they listed it as being worth $25 million — even though they knew there was an option to buy it for just $8.5 million.”
“Attorney General James is looking into exactly that type of potentially illegally inflation of the Trump family and Trump Organization’s financial situation for a whole bunch of Trump properties,” she added. “Thanks to the Washington Post, we now know that the attorney general’s investigation has subpoenaed the federal government about Trump’s deal for that property in DC as well.”
“So yeah, if I were the former president, I don’t know if I’d be calling for my supporters to riot if I were indicted in this investigation, but I might be concerned.”
