Letitia James says the Trump Organization inflated real estate values.
The New York Attorney General’s Office a judge asked on Friday to force Cushman & Wakefield to comply with subpoenas issued in connection with the civil investigation of former President Donald Trump.
The motion to compel followed two subpoenas, one issued last February and the other in September of last year, seeking documents and records associated with various Trump properties: 40 Wall Street, a skyscraper in Manhattan; Seven Springs, an estate in Westchester, New York; and Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles.
Cushman & Wakefield handled appraisals for those properties, which have been the subject of a civil investigation by the attorney general’s office for possible manipulation as the Trump Organization sought tax breaks and favorable loan terms.
Trump and the Trump Organization have denied any wrongdoing. ABC News has reached out to both for comment on the attorney general’s new request.
Cushman & Wakefield, which has not been charged with any wrongdoing, complied with a subpoena issued early in the investigation but said the latest two were too broad and amounted to harassment of the company.
“Cushman & Wakefield’s work for the Trump Organization is important to our ongoing investigation into Donald J. Trump and the financial practices of the Trump Organization,” Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. “There should be no question that information about Cushman’s evaluation work for the Trump Organization is relevant to our efforts and that Cushman, like any other party, cannot challenge a legal subpoena because no one is above the law.” .
In a statement to ABC News, Cushman & Wakefield wrote: “Any suggestion that Cushman & Wakefield has not responded in good faith to the Attorney General’s investigation is fundamentally false. The documents filed by the Attorney General do not accurately describe Cushman & Wakefield’s responses. Cushman & Wakefield to subpoenas and investigations. We stand behind our appraisers and our work.”
The commercial brokerage, which also handled office leasing at various Trump properties, severed ties with Trump after the January 6 riots at the US Capitol with the Trump Organization.”
The Trump Organization bought Seven Springs, the 212-acre property in Mount Kisco, New York, in 1995, hoping to develop a golf course and, when it was turned down, luxury homes.
In 2004, the Trump Organization valued the property at $80 million; in 2007 it was valued at $200 million; and for 2012, they valued it at $291 million, based on the argument that the property was zoned for nine homes with an alleged $161 million profit, the attorney general’s office said.
Two separate professional appraisers valued the lots that were supposed to be developed at fractions of the prices used in Trump’s Statement of Financial Condition, the attorney general’s office said.
The attorney general’s office also raised questions about the true value of Trump’s leasing interest in 40 Wall Street. Outside appraisals conducted by Cushman & Wakefield in 2010-2012 for Capital One, which had a $160 million mortgage on the building, valued the Trump Organization’s interest in the property at between $200 million and $220 million.
During the same period, according to the attorney general’s office, Trump’s financial statements represented that 40 Wall Street had a valuation of $601.8 million in 2010, $524.7 million in 2011, $527.2 million in 2012, and $530.7 million in 2013. Those values were between two and three times what was recorded in the three consecutive appraisals.
Reference-abcnews.go.com