Trump accountant testified before NY grand jury in criminal investigation, sources say

news7g12/15/2021

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Trump accountant testified before NY grand jury in criminal investigation, sources say

washington articles Earlier on Tuesday it was reported that accountant Donald Bender from accounting firm Mazers USA, testified again more recently in a brief appearance before the panel, according to two people familiar with the investigation. , but may return for additional testimony in the future. Bender helped prepare the financial reports that the Trump Organization presented to its lenders, as well as handling large amounts of Trump financial information.

Prosecutors at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Cy Vance also recently met with current and former Deutsche Bank employees, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Those employees were asked about the representations that Trump organization officials gave to the bank, which has loaned the company hundreds of millions of dollars over the years.

According to the Post, one of those former employees was Rosemary Vrablic, Trump’s top financial adviser at the German lender. Prosecutors asked Vrablic during their interview, not before a grand jury, about Trump’s part in banking transactions, one person told the newspaper.

Vrablic’s attorney did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

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Reported appearances by Bender and Vrablic show that prosecutors focused on outside financial advisers to Trump as they worked to gather information about his business dealings. Investigators are probing whether the Trump Organization provided inaccurate financial statements on asset values when seeking funding and tax assessments, CNN reported.

A spokesman for the Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment to CNN. Representatives for the Trump Organization could not be reached for comment, but the organization has previously called the investigation a politically motivated witch hunt.

Mazars told CNN in a statement that “due to professional obligations in our industry, Mazars is unable to discuss any client — current or former, the status of our relationships or nature of our services in a public forum without our customers’ consent or as required by law.We remain committed to all of our professional and legal obligations we. “

Vance’s investigation, which began in earnest in August 2019, includes allegations by former Trump attorney Michael Cohen that the Trump Organization inflated assets when it sought loans and reduced them. when it’s time to pay taxes. CNN previously reported that investigators interviewed Cohen at least eight times, and that investigators were looking into multiple loans the Trump Organization took out, including those from Deutsche Bank and Ladder Capital.

Prosecutors are also reviewing millions of pages of documents, including Trump’s tax returns, which they obtained in February after the US Supreme Court blocked Trump’s attempt to block a subpoena against his longtime accounting firm.

The investigation included Trump Tower, the family estate known as Seven Springs, the hotel and the apartment tower in Chicago.

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Prosecutors moved the investigation to off-the-books compensation this spring, and Bender appeared before a grand jury around that time, the people said. Prosecutors announced an indictment against the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, on tax fraud allegations related to off-the-books compensation in July. The company and Weisselberg have pleaded not guilty.

The sources said the focus of the investigation has shifted back to the accuracy of the financial statements and notes over the past few months.

trumpet previously said in civil investigations for which Weisselberg helped prepare the financial statements. At the same time, the documents and deposits show that even as Trump claims he leaves those pricing decisions to someone else, he is deeply involved in running his business.

Cohen made it for the first time his accusations publicly in testimony before Congress. At the time he made a number of financial statements public, including one from 2012. In that statement, which CNN reviewed, Trump’s accounting firm noted that “Donald J Trump is responsible. responsibility for the preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements,” they added, without auditing the statements and identified some deviations from generally accepted accounting principles. The statement also notes that users “should recognize that they may draw different conclusions about Donald J Trump’s financial condition if they have access to the revised financial condition statement,” which no need to follow accounting rules.

Lenders like Deutsche Bank are sophisticated and often perform their own analyses.

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