Deutsche Bank has refused to release information on loans to Donald Trump and any possible connections to Russia requested by members of the House Financial Services Committee.
Democrats on the committee, led by ranking member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), last month sent a letter to the German bank requesting details about an estimated $340 million in loans to Trump since 2012, along with any related information concerning the bank’s Russian accounts. The letter also asked for the bank’s internal report on a Russian money-laundering operation using Deutsche Bank. Committee members are seeking to determine if the Trump loans may have been “guaranteed by the Russian government, or were in any way connected to Russia.”
“Please provide copies of all pertinent financial records to this Committee that may shed light on President Trump’s financial transactions with and business ties to Russia, as well as those of his family members and associates,” the letter stated. “While President Trump has maintained that he has no investments in Russia, such declarations do little to explain his financial arrangement with Russia.”
The letter requested “any and all records of loans, guarantees or other forms of credit” to Trump or his family “from, passing through or otherwise related to Russia.”
Deutsche Bank finally responded to committee members last week that it will not turn over information concerning Trump nor about trades from the bank’s Moscow operation.
“Deutsche Bank, like other financial institutions, is not permitted to disclose details related to its customers,” said the letter from the bank’s lawyers. “This is true even if the individual is a government official or well-known person, and even in circumstances where the individual has made some disclosure regarding their relationship with their banking institution.”
The letter concluded: “While we seek to cooperate, we must obey the law.”
Deutsche Bank mysteriously continued to loan billions to Trump since 1996, even though he sued the bank at one point and defaulted on an early loan. Trump turned to the foreign bank after American institutions ceased doing business with the litigious real estate developer. Deutsche Bank became Trump’s “biggest lender and the only bank known to lend to the president after his bankruptcies,” said the letter from the committee members.
The bank earlier this year paid a total of $630 million to the U.K and U.S. to settle some investigations into fraudulent mirror stock trades that Russian account-holders used as a suspected cover to launder some $10 billion.
Beyond possible links to Russia, Trump’s loans from the Deutsche Bank were a major problem right from the start of his presidency. The bank has been the target of a major criminal investigation by the federal government, while the head of that government was on the hook for millions to the same bank.
“President Trump’s conflict of interest with Deutsche Bank … may undermine the independence and impartiality of the … ongoing investigation and diminish the likelihood that Deutsche Bank and its senior leadership will be brought to justice,” the Democrats noted in a letter to the bank earlier this year.
The bank has reached settlements on some investigations. New York’s Department of Financial Services fined the bank $425 million and mandated an independent monitor to track bank programs to guard against money-laundering schemes. But an investigation by the U.S, Department of Justice is ongoing.
The members of the House Financial Services Committee have not yet responded to the latest letter from Deutsche Bank.
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