Cushman & Wakefield seeks to stop subpoena for Donald Trump’s documents

[ad_1]

Cushman & Wakefield, the commercial property services firm, is pushing back against a subpoena issued by the New York attorney-general as part of an investigation of former president Donald Trump and the Trump Organization.

Cushman on Wednesday filed an appeal against a ruling ordering it to comply with the subpoena, in an escalation of its fight with Letitia James, the attorney-general. It will argue that James is seeking documents prepared for clients that have no relation to the Trump Organization and that handing them over would violate those clients’ privacy.

“Providing these documents would represent a violation of our clients’ proprietary business information and their privacy and a breach of the trust they place in us to preserve it,” a company official said.

Cushman claims that it has handed over more than 40,000 pages of documents relating to its appraisals for the Trump Organization. Many of the details subsequently emerged in a court filing in January in which James stated she had uncovered “significant evidence” of fraud committed by the Trump Organization by allegedly inflating the value of its properties in order to secure better loan terms.

Cushman’s appeal comes after New York Judge Arthur Engoron last month ordered it to comply by May 27 with two of James’s previous document requests. That decision came the same day that Engoron held the former president in contempt of court for refusing to hand over documents, imposing a $ 10,000 daily fine until he does.

On Wednesday, the judge conditionally lifted that ruling, provided that Trump follows through with commitments to supply information about his company’s document-retention policy and complete a review of additional materials by May 20. The judge also ordered him to pay the fines, now totaling $ 110,000.

Cushman carried out appraisals for several of the Trump-owned properties that James has been scrutinizing as part of her office’s civil investigation, including the Seven Springs development in Westchester and a golf club in Los Angeles. In one case cited by James, Cushman’s appraisers valued the 40 Wall Street building in lower Manhattan at $ 220mn in 2012 and then $ 550mn in 2015.

Recommended

James is seeking internal communications from Cushman regarding its decision to sever ties with the Trump Organization in January 2021 following the attack on the US Capitol. She has also demanded comparable appraisals the firm carried out over the years to determine whether it made special allowances for Trump’s properties.

Cushman has denied wrongdoing, and insisted that its appraisals were performed in good faith. Its conclusions were often influenced by changing circumstances, it has argued, including the New York property market’s robust recovery from the 2008 financial crisis.

In at least one case, the attorney-general’s filing showed Cushman executives resisting pressure from a Trump attorney to offer a more generous valuation of a property.

[ad_2]