Follow the Trump Tower money…
When Donald Trump is accused of some new malfeasance, it’s nearly certain he has accomplished such dirty work before, so long as he has had the opportunity. Similarly, when authorities investigate questionable activity that Trump committed within a certain timeframe, it’s naïve to assume that his prior record is clean.
This disturbing yet fundamental observation about Trump keeps finding new ways to reveal itself, thanks to the extraordinary length and breadth of Trump’s known criminal résumé. The latest resurfacing, courtesy of Forbes, relates to the investigations of financial fraud involving Trump Tower.
With both the New York Attorney General and the Manhattan District Attorney shining a spotlight on Trump Tower as part of an effort to hold Trump to account for misleading lenders about asset values, Forbes has uncovered new revelations after noticing some discrepancies in past financial statements. Combined with what was already known, the mountain of damning evidence is growing even taller.
Forbes’ investigation found that Trump’s lying about Trump Tower’s finances dates all the way back to when it opened in 1983. In his boasting about his skyscraper’s rise, Trump offered some impressive figures, claiming he sold 85% of residential units within a range of $500,000 to $12 million each before Trump Tower even opened. Top newspapers and biographers published the numbers, which then “became cemented into the legend of Trump.”
However, a new look at deeds from that period reveals a far different reality. Contrary to what Trump insisted, he sold only about 60% of the residential units in the first year, with the vast majority (130 of 150) of them going for less than $500,000. The least expensive apartment sold for only $130,000 while the most expensive sold for $2 million, far less than the $12 million of Trump’s delusion.
Forbes also found evidence that Trump lied repeatedly about the size of the commercial space at the base of Trump Tower. In contrast with the original condo declaration, Trump’s tax filings presented figures that showed high vacancy rates while his lending documentation manipulated numbers to claim close to no vacancies, aiming to make himself appear more creditworthy.
Forbes had already caught Trump passing off his 11,000-square-foot penthouse as 30,000 square feet, a whopper that is already evidence in the AG and DA investigations. However, until now, “no one seems to have drilled down on” the far more consequential numbers game Trump was playing with his commercial space.
Finally, Forbes just revealed a 2015 audio recording of an interview with Trump about his assets that further directly connects him to the lies about his commercial space. At times interrupting Trump’s CFO Allen Weisselberg who sat beside him, Trump excitedly pushed numbers that were even double or triple the figures in his overblown financial statements.
So, we now know that the wild manipulation of Trump Tower’s financial numbers is as old as the structure itself and included the commercial space. It’s also now even clearer that Trump was personally involved in this decades-long deception. Are we surprised?
Ron Leshnower is a lawyer and the author of several books, including President Trump’s Month