Donald Trump

Trump is Personally Leveraged to Deutsche Bank

Written by SK Ashby

Why is Trump so concerned about the subpoenas for financial records that House Democrats have submitted to Deustche Bank and why would he sue his own bank in an effort to stop them from complying?

Bloomberg reports that Duestche Bank has seen Trump's illusive tax returns and taken notes on them that could be submitted to the House Oversight Committee, but it's the reason why Duestche Bank was allowed to see them that I find very interesting.

As you may know, the Trumps turned to Duestche Bank, a German bank, because American banks would no longer do business with them following a string of bankruptcies and calamitous financial failures at Trump's casinos and resorts.

According to sources who spoke to Bloomberg, Deutsche Bank initially refused to do business with Trump until his daughter, Ivanka Trump, offered up Trump's personal assets -- not the assets of the Trump Organization -- as collateral. That's why they were allowed to see his tax returns.

When [Deutsche Bank] balked, Ivanka offered to guarantee the loans with Trump’s personal assets, the person said.

The bank was willing but needed to do due diligence on Trump and his net worth. To that end, Deutsche Bank sent a team to the office of Trump Organization’s chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, the two people said.

Weisselberg allowed the bankers to see relevant parts of Trump’s tax returns and take notes, the people said. They weren’t allowed to make copies of the documents, they said. Having seen enough to justify moving forward, Deutsche Bank structured the subsequent funding as recourse loans, meaning that the bank could come after Trump’s personal assets in the event of default.

I don't want to stretch too far to reach a conclusion, but it's possible this is why Trump ran for president in the first place. This could be why he didn't fully divest from his business after taking office. This could be why he's doing everything he can to funnel money back to himself by spending so much time at his own properties. This could support the hypothesis that running for president was just another business venture for Trump.

Sure, Trump is obviously a greedy fat cat with an ego that is visible from space, but it's also true that he's personally on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in the event that the Trump Organization goes belly-up. And if that ever happens, it could be the end of Trump as we've known him. It would be the end of the myth of Trump the brilliant billionaire. There would be no more banks willing to do business with him.

Let's also not forget that the corporate tax cuts signed into law by Trump were almost explicitly tailored to benefit corporations like the Trump Organization (a limited liability corporation), more than any other kind of business.

This feels like the answer to a million dollar question.

There's so much criminal and financial liability hanging over Trump the moment he leaves office, the idea that he's compromised by Russian intelligence feels like just the tip.