Deutsche Bank Gave Trump Over $2Bln in Loans Since Late 1990s – Reports

Deutsche Bank has loaned to US President Donald Trump more than $2 billion over nearly two decades, although he was a risky client, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.
The report came amid New York attorney general’s investigation into Deutsche Bank’s ties with the US leader, which was triggered by Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen’s testimony that Trump had been inflating his assets in financial statements.
Following its investigation into Trump’s ties with Deutsche Bank, as part of which over 20 former and current executives of the bank were interviewed, the newspaper came to a conclusion that Deutsche Bank had loaned over $2 billion to Trump since late 1990s, despite multiple red flags that made other banks consider him off-limits.
The news outlet claimed that Deutsche Bank had given Trump multiple loans despite bankruptcies of his businesses and despite being aware of the fact that he had been exaggerating his revenues and the worth of his real estate assets. Meanwhile, since Trump’s designation as US president in 2016, Deutsche Bank officials have repeatedly denied ties between him and the financial institution.
According to the newspaper, in 1998 Trump asked the bank to give him a $125 million loan for renovations in his Art Deco tower. Soon after that he sought $300 million for the construction of a skyscraper and millions more for a casino. However, it was soon discovered that the signature of the credit officer who approved the loan for the construction of the casino had been forged.
In 2003, Deutsche Bank reportedly helped Trump’s casino to sell hundreds of millions of dollars in loans in exchange for a weekend in his private club Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
Two years later, Trump asked for an over $500 million loan to build a skyscraper in Chicago, a hotel and another tower. In 2008, Trump defaulted and sued Deutsche Bank, claiming that the financial crisis was an act of God that prevented him from paying the loan.
This prompted Deutsche Bank to cut ties with Trump, but just several years later it started providing loans to him again.
The newspaper, which has provided details on plenty of other loans that Trump managed to receive, accused Deutsche Bank of having a “ravenous appetite for risk” and suggested that it was turning a blind eye at Trump’s reputation due to desire to “make a name for itself on Wall Street.”