>Donald Trump, his companies and some executives have been found to have fraudulently inflated the valuations of non-existent Scottish golf club properties by up to £200m as part of a scheme to dupe banks and others and borrow more at lower rates, it can be revealed.
>It comes as it emerged the Aberdeen club’s operating company has run at a deficit since it opened in 2012, and has amassed total losses in the ensuing 11 years of £13.025m.
>A US judge has found that it had been wrongly stated that 2500 homes had already been built as part of a project associated with the loss-making Trump International Golf Club in Aberdeen. But there was planning permission to build only 500 and no development had taken place.
>According to a judge’s civil fraud case findings of fact at one point the Trump organisation had valued the 2500-home development at £83,164 when an appraisal it received placed it at less than half that. That put the value of the undeveloped Aberdeen land at £207.9m.
>The Trump Organisation had been accused by the New York Attorney General Letitia James of the inflated prices by producing false financial statements that inflated the former president’s net worth.
>The Attorney General said this was “particularly egregious in light of Mr Trump’s decision… to indefinitely postpone all development plans” after the Scottish government approved nearby offshore wind farm plans.
>Mr Trump was last week ordered to pay nearly $355m (£281m) to New York state for lying about the values of his properties as part of “material fraudulent misstatements”. The judge those included those relating to the housing development associated with the Trump International Golf Club in Aberdeen.
>Mr Trump opened his first golf resort on the Menie estate in 2012 – amid opposition over potential environmental damage – and later tried to stop a wind farm being built off the coast, arguing it would spoil the view.
>In the calendar year of 2022, Trump International Golf Club Scotland Limited, which operates the resort made an after tax loss of £738,344 following a £696,845 loss in 2021. In 2012, it incurred a £1,746,643 deficit followed by a £1,822,577 loss in 2023.
>The Aberdeen case formed part of wider legal action which claims the company lied “by billions” through submitting false financial statements to banks and insurance companies to obtain better rates on loans and insurance coverage.
>The New York real estate tycoon escaped having some of his companies dissolved, which could have meant bankruptcy at the end of a civil investigation by the office of the New York Attorney General.
>Judge Arthur Engoron also banned him from serving as a company director or taking out loans from banks in the state for three years.
>Mr Trump, who is campaigning for a second non-consecutive second presidential term in the 2024 election has said he would appeal and said the ruling was a “political witch hunt”.
>According to court documents, seen by the Herald the Attorney General that pursued the case, argued that Donald Trump, associated companies and some executives engaged in “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation” in official financial statements covering at least the years 2011 through to 2021.
>In a statement of fact seen by the Herald, the judge said that in valuing the non-golf course property, initial permission had been to develop only 500 homes as year-round private residences.
>But the financial statements from 2014 to 2018 not only valued the area based on permission existing to develop 2500 of the properties – five times as many – “but also as if those residences had already been built”.
>It also states that despite receiving a July 2017 appraisal by commercial property consultants Ryden LLP valuing the development profit of private homes at Aberdeen at a maximum of £33,296 per home, from 2017 to 2018 the Trump Organization valued them at £83,164 per home. That put the total valuation at £207.9m.
>
>In 2019, the Trump Organization began valuing each home at £106,969, more than triple the original value, while the supporting information said the Trump Organization had permission to build 2035 private residences. That put the total valuation at £217.63m.
>According to the findings, by 2020 and 2021, the Trump Organization the valuations had dipped to £68,781 per home while it said the permission was to build 1200 private residences. That brought the total valuation down to £82.537m.
>According to the judge’s findings, Mr Trump was questioned about Aberdeen, and whether he was aware that financial statements for 2014 to 2018 valued the property as if the Trump Organization could build 2500 year-round private residences, when in fact, they had received permission to build only 500,
>He said “I don’t know, but it could very well be. It’s sort of like a painting. You could do pretty much what you want to do. The land is there. You could do what you want to do. So you could do either one of them, actually.”.
>The judge’s findings say that when confronted with evidence that, in 2014, the Trump Organization had submitted a statement to UK regulators stating that it did not intend to develop the Aberdeen property any further because of Donald Trump’s opposition to wind farms.
>Mr Trump said in a testimony to the court: “At some point that will be developed into a magnificent job. I just don’t want to do it now.”
>The judge said: “Notwithstanding the foregoing, the 2014-2018 [financial statements] valued Aberdeen not only as if Donald Trump had permission to develop 2500 private year-round residences, which he did not, but also as if those residences had already been built, and the [financial statements] and supporting data failed to account for any development costs associated with making the hypothetical residences a reality.”
>Mr Trump’s empire was spared from one of the worst potential outcomes – the cancellation of its business licences, known as the corporate death penalty.
>Instead, the judge ordered two tiers of oversight – an independent monitor to report to the court for up to three years and a separate independent director of compliance to be installed.
>The judge is also requiring Mr Trump pay interest on the profits he made by committing the fraud (known as ‘prejudgment interest’), which could bring the final amount penalty total to around $450m (£354m),
>Along with what Mr Trump has been ordered to pay, his two sons and co-defendants, Donald Jr and Eric, must each pay $4m ( (£3.1m) They are barred for two years from doing business in New York.
>Another co-defendant, Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, has been ordered to pay $1m (£793,600).
>Mr Trump, his company, and its affiliates cannot apply for loans in New York for three years.
>”There is overwhelming evidence that each of these defendants made or participated in making a false statement in the business records of an enterprise, with the intent to defraud, the judge stated.
>He said Mr Trump was “aware of the key facts underpinning “various material fraudulent misstatements” in the [financial statements] and then listed a series of matters including it was represented that he had permission for 2500 residences in Aberdeen when there was permission to build only 500.
>The stiff penalty was a victory for Ms James, a Democrat who sued Mr Trump over what she said was not just harmless bragging but years of deceptive practices as he built the multinational collection of skyscrapers, golf courses and other properties that catapulted him to wealth, fame and the White House.
>She described it as an “inflated home sale” and that the development should have been valued using an income-based approach rather than a fixed-assets approach – described as basing the value on Mr Trump’s capital contributions and adjusting by a “multiplier”.
>The Attorney General said the Trump Organisation confirmed in a public, audited financial statement shortly before finalizing Mr. Trump’s 2014 Statement that it did not intend any residential development on the property for the foreseeable future in the wake of his opposition to a proposed wind farm in Aberdeen Bay.
>In testimony to the Scottish Government in April 2012 Mr Trump said that he “cannot proceed with [the development] if the hotel is going to be looking at industrial turbines, and no one here would do so if they were in my position.”
[more to come]
Sure sounds like fake mews.
I’m shocked. Shocked! Well, not that shocked.
Trump is a crook
Hmm that doesn’t sound like something King Donny would do
>Donald Trump, his companies and some executives have been found to have fraudulently inflated the valuations of *non-existent* Scottish golf club properties..
That’s a queer way to word it. How can anyone *boost* the value of something that doesn’t exist, so has no value in the first place?
It sounds like they just wanted avoid calling him a fraud.
7 comments
>Donald Trump, his companies and some executives have been found to have fraudulently inflated the valuations of non-existent Scottish golf club properties by up to £200m as part of a scheme to dupe banks and others and borrow more at lower rates, it can be revealed.
>It comes as it emerged the Aberdeen club’s operating company has run at a deficit since it opened in 2012, and has amassed total losses in the ensuing 11 years of £13.025m.
>A US judge has found that it had been wrongly stated that 2500 homes had already been built as part of a project associated with the loss-making Trump International Golf Club in Aberdeen. But there was planning permission to build only 500 and no development had taken place.
>According to a judge’s civil fraud case findings of fact at one point the Trump organisation had valued the 2500-home development at £83,164 when an appraisal it received placed it at less than half that. That put the value of the undeveloped Aberdeen land at £207.9m.
>The Trump Organisation had been accused by the New York Attorney General Letitia James of the inflated prices by producing false financial statements that inflated the former president’s net worth.
>The Attorney General said this was “particularly egregious in light of Mr Trump’s decision… to indefinitely postpone all development plans” after the Scottish government approved nearby offshore wind farm plans.
>Mr Trump was last week ordered to pay nearly $355m (£281m) to New York state for lying about the values of his properties as part of “material fraudulent misstatements”. The judge those included those relating to the housing development associated with the Trump International Golf Club in Aberdeen.
>Mr Trump opened his first golf resort on the Menie estate in 2012 – amid opposition over potential environmental damage – and later tried to stop a wind farm being built off the coast, arguing it would spoil the view.
>In the calendar year of 2022, Trump International Golf Club Scotland Limited, which operates the resort made an after tax loss of £738,344 following a £696,845 loss in 2021. In 2012, it incurred a £1,746,643 deficit followed by a £1,822,577 loss in 2023.
>The Aberdeen case formed part of wider legal action which claims the company lied “by billions” through submitting false financial statements to banks and insurance companies to obtain better rates on loans and insurance coverage.
>The New York real estate tycoon escaped having some of his companies dissolved, which could have meant bankruptcy at the end of a civil investigation by the office of the New York Attorney General.
>Judge Arthur Engoron also banned him from serving as a company director or taking out loans from banks in the state for three years.
>Mr Trump, who is campaigning for a second non-consecutive second presidential term in the 2024 election has said he would appeal and said the ruling was a “political witch hunt”.
>According to court documents, seen by the Herald the Attorney General that pursued the case, argued that Donald Trump, associated companies and some executives engaged in “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation” in official financial statements covering at least the years 2011 through to 2021.
>In a statement of fact seen by the Herald, the judge said that in valuing the non-golf course property, initial permission had been to develop only 500 homes as year-round private residences.
>But the financial statements from 2014 to 2018 not only valued the area based on permission existing to develop 2500 of the properties – five times as many – “but also as if those residences had already been built”.
>It also states that despite receiving a July 2017 appraisal by commercial property consultants Ryden LLP valuing the development profit of private homes at Aberdeen at a maximum of £33,296 per home, from 2017 to 2018 the Trump Organization valued them at £83,164 per home. That put the total valuation at £207.9m.
>
>In 2019, the Trump Organization began valuing each home at £106,969, more than triple the original value, while the supporting information said the Trump Organization had permission to build 2035 private residences. That put the total valuation at £217.63m.
>According to the findings, by 2020 and 2021, the Trump Organization the valuations had dipped to £68,781 per home while it said the permission was to build 1200 private residences. That brought the total valuation down to £82.537m.
>According to the judge’s findings, Mr Trump was questioned about Aberdeen, and whether he was aware that financial statements for 2014 to 2018 valued the property as if the Trump Organization could build 2500 year-round private residences, when in fact, they had received permission to build only 500,
>He said “I don’t know, but it could very well be. It’s sort of like a painting. You could do pretty much what you want to do. The land is there. You could do what you want to do. So you could do either one of them, actually.”.
>The judge’s findings say that when confronted with evidence that, in 2014, the Trump Organization had submitted a statement to UK regulators stating that it did not intend to develop the Aberdeen property any further because of Donald Trump’s opposition to wind farms.
>Mr Trump said in a testimony to the court: “At some point that will be developed into a magnificent job. I just don’t want to do it now.”
>The judge said: “Notwithstanding the foregoing, the 2014-2018 [financial statements] valued Aberdeen not only as if Donald Trump had permission to develop 2500 private year-round residences, which he did not, but also as if those residences had already been built, and the [financial statements] and supporting data failed to account for any development costs associated with making the hypothetical residences a reality.”
>Mr Trump’s empire was spared from one of the worst potential outcomes – the cancellation of its business licences, known as the corporate death penalty.
>Instead, the judge ordered two tiers of oversight – an independent monitor to report to the court for up to three years and a separate independent director of compliance to be installed.
>The judge is also requiring Mr Trump pay interest on the profits he made by committing the fraud (known as ‘prejudgment interest’), which could bring the final amount penalty total to around $450m (£354m),
>Along with what Mr Trump has been ordered to pay, his two sons and co-defendants, Donald Jr and Eric, must each pay $4m ( (£3.1m) They are barred for two years from doing business in New York.
>Another co-defendant, Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, has been ordered to pay $1m (£793,600).
>Mr Trump, his company, and its affiliates cannot apply for loans in New York for three years.
>”There is overwhelming evidence that each of these defendants made or participated in making a false statement in the business records of an enterprise, with the intent to defraud, the judge stated.
>He said Mr Trump was “aware of the key facts underpinning “various material fraudulent misstatements” in the [financial statements] and then listed a series of matters including it was represented that he had permission for 2500 residences in Aberdeen when there was permission to build only 500.
>The stiff penalty was a victory for Ms James, a Democrat who sued Mr Trump over what she said was not just harmless bragging but years of deceptive practices as he built the multinational collection of skyscrapers, golf courses and other properties that catapulted him to wealth, fame and the White House.
>She described it as an “inflated home sale” and that the development should have been valued using an income-based approach rather than a fixed-assets approach – described as basing the value on Mr Trump’s capital contributions and adjusting by a “multiplier”.
>The Attorney General said the Trump Organisation confirmed in a public, audited financial statement shortly before finalizing Mr. Trump’s 2014 Statement that it did not intend any residential development on the property for the foreseeable future in the wake of his opposition to a proposed wind farm in Aberdeen Bay.
>In testimony to the Scottish Government in April 2012 Mr Trump said that he “cannot proceed with [the development] if the hotel is going to be looking at industrial turbines, and no one here would do so if they were in my position.”
[more to come]
Sure sounds like fake mews.
I’m shocked. Shocked! Well, not that shocked.
Trump is a crook
Hmm that doesn’t sound like something King Donny would do
>Donald Trump, his companies and some executives have been found to have fraudulently inflated the valuations of *non-existent* Scottish golf club properties..
That’s a queer way to word it. How can anyone *boost* the value of something that doesn’t exist, so has no value in the first place?
It sounds like they just wanted avoid calling him a fraud.
He is a fraud.