Trump accountant testified before NY grand jury in crime investigation, sources say

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The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the accountant, Donald Bender from accounting firm Mazers USA, re -testified recently in a brief panel appearance, according to two people familiar with the investigation, but may return for further testimony going forward. Bender helped prepare the financial statements that the Trump Organization presented to lenders, as well as handling large amounts of Trump’s financial information.

Prosecutors in Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance’s office recently met with current and former Deutsche Bank employees, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Those employees were asked about representations made by officials of the Trump organization at the bank, which has lent the company hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years.

One of the former employees, according to the Post, was Rosemary Vrablic, Trump’s top financial adviser to the German lender. Prosecutors asked Vrablic in their interview, which was not before a grand jury, about Trump’s part in the bank deals, someone in the paper said.

Vrablic’s attorney did not respond to CNN’s requests for comment.

Reported appearances by Bender and Vrablic suggest that prosecutors have placed the focus on financial advisers outside of Trump as they try to gather information about his business dealings. Investigators are investigating whether the Trump Organization provided inaccurate financial statements about the value of assets when seeking financing and tax assessments, CNN reported.

A spokesman for the Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment to CNN. A representative for the Trump Organization could not be reached for comment, but the organization has previously called the investigation a politically motivated witch hunt.

Mazars told CNN in a statement that “due to our industry professional obligations Mazars cannot discuss any clients — current or past, the status of our relationships, or the nature of our services. in a public forum without the client’s consent or as required by law. We remain committed to fulfilling all of our professional and legal obligations. “

Vance’s investigation, which began in earnest in August 2019, includes allegations made by former Trump attorney Michael Cohen that the Trump Organization exaggerated assets when asking for loans and released them when the time has come to pay taxes. CNN previously reported that investigators had interviewed Cohen at least eight times and that investigators were looking at several loans taken by the Trump Organization, including those from Deutsche Bank and Ladder Capital.

Prosecutors are also combing through millions of pages of documents, including Trump’s tax returns, they obtained in February after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked Trump’s attempt to stop the subpoena at his longtime accounting firm.

The investigation covers the Trump Tower, the family property known as Seven Springs, the Chicago hotel and its condo tower.

Prosecutors moved the investigation into off-the-books compensation this spring and Bender appeared on grand jury at the time, people said. Prosecutors announced a lawsuit against the Trump Organization and its chief finance officer, Allen Weisselberg, on tax fraud charges related to compensation out of the books in July. The company and Weisselberg pleaded not guilty.

The focus of the investigation has returned to the accuracy of financial statements and representations over the past few months, sources said.

Trump had earlier said on deposits in civil investigations that Weisselberg assisted in preparing the financial statements. At the same time, documents and deposits appear that even though Trump claimed he left those valuation decisions to someone else, he was also deeply involved in running his business. Cohen first made his allegations public in testimony before Congress. At the time he made several financial statements public, including one from 2012. In that statement, which was reviewed by CNN, Trump’s accounting firm said that “Donald J Trump was responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of financial statement, “they added that they did. did not audit the statement and identified some deviations from generally accepted accounting principles. The statement also states that users “should acknowledge that they may have different conclusions about Donald J Trump’s financial status if they have access to a revised statement of financial status” without having to departure from accounting rules.

Lenders like Deutsche Bank are sophisticated and often do their own checks.

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