Manhattan prosecutors conduct probe into Trump’s Seven Springs estate

Mr. Trump has estimated the property at up to $ 291 million in financial statements that the New York Attorney General’s office, which is also investigating Seven Springs, has been given to financial institutions. Pumping up assets to secure loans or other financial benefits could be a crime on the part of the state, legal experts said.

The Seven Springs control is part of a broader criminal investigation into Mr. Trump, his company and his officials, which also includes financial transactions at properties such as Trump’s flagship Trump Tower in Manhattan, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. Outside of New York, prosecutors are also investigating a loan for the Trump International Hotel and Tower Chicago, said people familiar with the case, which CNN previously reported.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s office has said in lawsuits that it is investigating potential tax, insurance and banking fraud. Investigators now have Mr. Trump’s tax returns and other financial records after an 18-month court battle, allowing prosecutors to compare Mr. Trump’s statement to lenders with his statements to tax authorities.

Prosecutors have in recent weeks sent subpoenas to land-use attorney Charles Martabano and engineer Ralph Mastromonaco, both of whom were involved in planning the Trump organization’s proposal for Seven Springs, the people said.

Mr. Mastromonaco confirmed that he had received a subpoena and said he had provided the prosecutor’s office materials, including communications with others involved in the project.

The district attorney’s office also requested recordings from schedule board meetings in Bedford, NY, one of three towns where the Seven Springs estate is located, people familiar with the case said. Mr. Mastromonaco and Mr. Martabano appeared before the board with Mr. Trump’s son, Eric Trump, in the minutes showing in 2012 and 2013.

Lawyers for Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization did not respond to requests for comment. Last month, after the U.S. Supreme Court denied Mr. Trump’s attempts to prevent Mr. Vance, a Democrat, from obtaining his tax returns, Mr. Trump in a written statement called the investigation a “ continuation of the largest political witch hunt in history. of our country. “

Prosecutors’ interest in the local planning process may have to do with the property’s appraisal and whether it was incorrectly inflated in financial documents, lawyers said. Mr. Trump valued the property at $ 291 million in 2012, according to what he called his “statement of financial condition,” a collection of financial information compiled but unaudited by his accountants. Mr. Trump valued the property between $ 25 million and $ 50 million based on financial disclosure paperwork filed while he was president.

Local tax assessments list the property’s market value at approximately $ 19 million.

The new subpoenas add to the picture of what is known about Mr. Vance. Prosecutors have previously sent subpoenas to some of Mr. Trump’s lenders and a long-term insurance broker.

The district attorney’s office has hired Mark Pomerantz, a former federal prosecutor now on leave from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, to work on the investigation, according to people familiar with the case. A spokesman for Mr Vance said Mr Pomerantz was sworn in as a special assistant district attorney last month.

The firm has also hired FTI Consulting Inc.

to do forensic accounting work on the case, people familiar with the case said. A spokesman for the FTI declined to comment.

Manhattan prosecutors’ interest in Seven Springs dates back to at least December, when they sent another series of subpoenas to the three cities, the Journal reports. The subpoenas asked officials in Bedford, North Castle and New Castle to provide information on tax assessments, city communications and schedule board minutes, local officials said.

The cities have since transferred the materials, local officials said.

The information the prosecutors have asked for is based on years of effort to get the necessary local approvals to build a subdivision of luxury homes after Mr. Trump’s original plan to build a golf course in Seven Springs , failed in the early 2000s. The allotment effort dates back to at least 2004 and continued through 2013, according to plan and zoning board documents.

In 2015, the Trump Organization had scrapped development plans and instead opted to place 158 acres of land in an easement, or not develop land that an owner has agreed not to develop.

The latest appraisal, sent to Mr. Trump in 2016, values ​​the property at $ 56.5 million and the easement portion at $ 21.1 million. Seven Springs LLC, which is part of the Trump organization, demanded a $ 21.1 million tax deduction for the easement in tax year 2015, a lawyer from the attorney general’s office has said in court.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, who opened a civil fraud investigation against Mr. Trump and his company in 2019, has said her office is investigating the easement at Seven Springs. The Trump Organization has called the investigation of Ms. James, a Democrat, politically motivated.

Write to Corinne Ramey at [email protected]