Trump, Deutsche Bank Blast NYT Article Alleging Possible Money Laundering

Deutsche Bank, the 16th largest in the world, denied allegations reported Monday in the New York Times that it withheld reports of suspicious financial dealings involving President Trump from the U.S. Treasury Department.

“At no time was an investigator prevented from escalating activity identified as potentially suspicious,” Kerrie McHugh, a spokesperson for the bank, told Agence France-Presse.

The Times had reported through both named and unnamed sources that the bank ignored computer-generated reports of suspicious activity in accounts controlled by Trump and his son-in-law and White House senior advisor, Jared Kushner, and failed to report the activity to the Treasury Department.

Large sums of money were transferred back and forth between individuals and foreign entities, but this isn’t unusual for international real estate developers like Trump, who reportedly owes Deutsche $300 million, and Kushner, whose Kushner Company affiliates were lent $285 million by Deutsche in 2016.

“The suggestion that anyone was reassigned or fired in an effort to quash concerns related to any client is categorically false,” McHugh added.

Deutsche, Germany’s largest bank, has a well-documented history of fines and investigations associated with money laundering and other banking regulation violations. The German market watchdog Bafin in 2018 took the unprecedented step of naming accounting firm KPMG to independently supervise the bank’s progress in eliminating money laundering and other illegal activities, according to reports. The bank has been accused of laundering billions for the Kremlin and other Russian agencies, which has fueled suspicions the bank may have been a conduit between Trump and Moscow.

After the Times report, Trump claimed American media has “never been as corrupt and deranged as it is today.” He said he does not need banks for loans because he has “made a lot of money and buys everything in cash.”

Other sources would disagree. Earlier this month, news agencies, including USA Today, the Times and others, reported Trump lost $1.17 billion between 1985-1994, and paid no income tax for eight of those years. A Trump lawyer, Charles Harder, issued a statement after that report, calling it “highly inaccurate,” and adding IRS transcripts “particularly before the days of electronic filing [were] notoriously inaccurate.” Before electronic filing, tax returns were usually prepared by the income earner or their accountant.

While Deutsche has denied any wrongdoing, shares of its stock were down nearly 3% on Monday.

In response to his tweets he buys everything with cash, Trump added: “Where did he get all of that cash? Could it be Russia? No, I built a great business and don't need banks, but if I did they would be there.”

Trump also spoke highly of Deutsche Bank, saying it was “good and highly professional to deal with.”