Deutsche Bank Didn’t Report Trump’s Suspicious Transactions to Federal Watchdog, NYT Reveals

Deutsche Bank reportedly hushed up an insider report that flagged suspicious deals of the businesses run by President Donald Trump and Jared Kushner and never took the matter to the American watchdog.

The bank was supposed to submit the insider dossier on suspected financial deals to the U.S Treasury Department. But the German bank sat on it and never took any action.

A report by the New York Times revealed that the transactions dated to the period of 2016 and 2017. Many deals were flagged as suspicious. Despite the bank staff raising suspicious activity reports to be sent to the U.S Treasury, Deutsche Bank refused to act and never cared to escalate those concerns with the U.S government.

Employee sacked for raising money laundering issue

The alerts cropped up in the summer of 2016 when Deutsche Bank’s software raised flags on several transactions involving the real estate company of Kushner.

Kushner now serves as a senior adviser in the White House.

The report quoted former DB staffer Tammy McFadden to reinforce the allegations against the bank.

She was with the bank’s anti-money laundering wing and has seen many suspicious deals of Kushner owned companies, which involved money being sent to many Russians.

McFadden was sacked by the bank in 2018 after she persisted with her concerns over the bank’s deviation from best practices.

“You present them with everything, and you give them a recommendation, and nothing happens,” added McFadden.

Interestingly, Trump had sued Deutsche Bank in April to stop the bank from complying with the subpoenas by Congress panels that asked for information on payments from Trump and his business.

Bank denies cover-up

The report said ignoring the insider recommendation for action had more to do with the Deutsche Bank’s taste for protecting relationships with valued clients.

However, Deutsche Bank denied any wrongdoing in the matter.

“We have increased our anti-financial crime staff and enhanced our controls in recent years and take compliance with” anti-money laundering laws very seriously,” said Deutsche Bank spokeswoman Kerrie McHugh.

McHugh also refuted the allegation that “any employee was fired to quash concerns relating to any client.“

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Trump Organization clarified it was not aware of any “flagged deals” and it is not running an account with Deutsche Bank.

A spokeswoman of Kushner Companies also called the allegation of money laundering fabricated and “totally false.”