Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Between the late 1990s and 2016, Deutsche Bank was reportedly willing to lend President Trump money to grow his real estate business despite several red flags. According to The New York Times, Trump reportedly lied about his net worth and the the worth of his real estate assets. He reportedly claimed he was worth around $3 billion when the bank found he was actually worth about $788 million in 2005. In 2010, a Deutsche Bank team also reportedly concluded he was likely inflating some of his real estate assets by up to 70 percent. Despite the alleged lying found in both instances, the bank approved his requested loans. Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts also reportedly defaulted on “hundreds of millions of dollars” worth of bonds that the bank sold in 2003, and Trump claimed he couldn’t pay back a loan in 2008 because of the financial crisis, which he likened to an actual natural disaster. Deutsche Bank spokeswoman Kerrie McHugh told the Times the bank was “committed to cooperating with authorized investigations”—including probes by the New York attorney general and two congressional committees. The White House referred questions to the Trump Organization, and the company reportedly declined to comment. In April, the bank will reportedly start handing over “extensive internal documents and communications” regarding Trump to congressional committees. Rosemary Vrablic, a Deutsche Bank private banker who worked with Trump, is also reportedly expected to be called to testify publicly before Congress.