Prosecutors in New York are investigating financial transactions involving some of former US President Donald Trump’s signature buildings in Manhattan, and are further expanding the investigation into the former president and his company.
According to Wall Street Journal sources asking for anonymity, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is investigating the loans Trump has applied for for his ‘flagship’ Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, as well as an Art Deco-style skyscraper in New York’s financial district. York. , the Trump International Hotel and Tower (located on Columbus Circle), and the Trump Plaza, an apartment building on the affluent Upper East Side of the Big Apple.
All loans examined were provided by subsidiaries of Ladder Capital Corp, a New York-based real estate investment fund that has lent more than $ 280 million to Trump for these four buildings since 2012, the New York newspaper said.
Investigation into Trump’s properties in Manhattan comes as the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is in a legal battle over the former president’s tax returns and other financial information.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last July that Trump’s accounting firm should hand over documents, but the New York tycoon turned politician has twice appealed that decision, while the court has not currently stated whether to take the case for processing. wants to recognize so the request of the Manhattan prosecutor’s office has been left in limbo.
Meanwhile, Trump has claimed that the investigation into his financial activities, led by Manhattan prosecutor Cyrus Vance, a Democrat, is a “witch hunt,” and the former president’s lawyers have described it as a “fishing expedition.”
However, Vance assures that they are conducting a complex investigation into alleged bank and insurance fraud committed by the Trump Organization and its senior officials.
While the details of the investigation into Trump’s properties and his loans are unknown, it is believed they could analyze discrepancies between the documentation and financial information presented to apply for these loans and reflected in his tax returns or insurance filings.
This is because giving false information with the intent of obtaining financial gain can be considered a crime under New York law, legal experts said.
In addition to his Manhattan real estate, prosecutors are also investigating the massive Seven Springs estate in New York’s Westchester County, which Trump had purchased for $ 7.5 million in 1995, according to the Wall Street Journal, and which he claimed had in 2012. valued at nearly $ 300 million in an attempt to turn it into a luxury residential neighborhood.
Trump’s assessment of Seven Springs has also been the subject of a fraud investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office, which seeks to determine whether the Trump Organization has inflated the property’s value in its financial statements to raise loans. and obtain tax breaks.