At the current time, there are a number of investigations into Donald Trump and his corrupt acts during and before his presidency. There is an investigation in Georgia into Trump’s attempts to pressure the secretary of state, Brad Raffensberger, to “find” enough votes to overturn a democratic election. There’s an investigation ongoing in Congress into Trump’s actions that incited an attack against the U.S. government. There’s a civil suit in New York led by the attorney general of New York, Letitia James, into Trump’s shady business practices. Also in New York, a similar investigation is looking at the same kind of evidence in the Trump Organization, but is aimed toward more criminal charges.
NEW: Trump's longtime accountant Donald Bender, who holds key details about his company's inner finances, has testified to the NY grand jury conducting a criminal investigation of Trump.https://t.co/nWDzEqec3t
— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) December 14, 2021
That last investigation, for now conducted by District Attorney Cy Vance until his replacement takes on the position, had a significant advancement on Tuesday after Trump’s longtime accountant, Donald Bender of Mazars, testified in front of a grand jury. Additionally, Rosemary Vrablic, who served as managing director at Deutsche Bank, also spoke to prosecutors in a separate interview.
According to The Washington Post:
‘Accountant Donald Bender, of the firm Mazars, appeared before a grand jurythat was impaneled this fall by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D) to weigh potential criminal charges… in recent weeks prosecutors have interviewed Rosemary Vrablic, a former managing director at Deutsche Bank who arranged hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to Trump, according to people familiar with the investigation. Vrablic’s interview was not before the grand jury. Instead, one person said, prosecutors pressed Vrablic about Trump’s role in dealings with the bank.’
More trouble brewing for Trump. Another one of his shady deals is coming back to bite him. https://t.co/UcjSDQKfHa
— Darrell Lucus (@DarrellLucus) December 14, 2021
Although Trump has not, at this time, been officially charged with a crime, the investigation is looking at potential bank and tax fraud. Former Trump “fixer” and attorney Michael Cohen, who went to prison for the work he did for Trump and at Trump’s command, said in court that Trump routinely downplayed the value of his real estate properties for tax purposes, but inflated them on applications for bank loans.
‘Prosecutors are investigating whether Trump’s company broke the law by givingwidely different valuations for the same property at the same time. In some cases, for instance, the Trump Organization provided low valuations to property-tax officials, while telling lenders that the same property was worth much more.’
Trump loses in court: The ruling is just the beginning of Trump’s troubles as New York AG ‘Tish’ James is concluding a fraud investigation that will cost him millions in back taxes & penalties and Cy Vance is pursuing criminal charges for the same offenses https://t.co/gqvJQSnj3N
— roger smith (@smithie1) December 10, 2021
It is unclear whether Bender gave anything of importance to prosecutors, although he would certainly have access to information that could prove to be of great value to the district attorney’s office.
‘Bender was questioned in court proceedings about those statements as part of Trump’s suit against journalist Timothy O’Brien. Asked by a defense attorney whether Trump’s 2003 statements were “subjective” or not, Bender said that the accountants did not audit these numbers — they took Trump’s assertions about the values of his properties and wrote them up, without checking to see if they matched reality.’
BREAKING: Federal judge Trevor McFadden (appointed by Trump) strikes down Trump lawsuit to block Congress from getting his tax returns pic.twitter.com/Hy8foA9bR3
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) December 14, 2021
