Manhattan DA's probe ramps up, placing new scrutiny on Trump's debt-ridden New York properties

• The Manhattan DA probe into former President Donald Trump is heating up, Insider reported on Friday.
• The investigation is placing new scrutiny on Trump’s commercial properties.
• Banks have placed three of the former president’s buildings on debt “watch lists,” CBS News said.
• See more stories on Insider’s business page.

As Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.’s probe into former President Donald Trump steps up a gear, four of Trump’s New York properties have come under renewed scrutiny.

Trump Tower, Trump International Hotel and Tower, 40 Wall Street, and Trump Plaza have missed lenders’ earning projections for five consecutive years, CBS News reported.

Banks have now placed three of the four real estate holdings on debt “watch lists,” the media outlet said.

Mortgage-payment processors have flagged the loans tied to these three properties due to consistent financial underperformance, CBS said.

Wells Fargo and other banks have told investors that reduced incomes on these holdings, due partly to the COVID-19 pandemic, could result in the properties not generating enough money to cover their mortgage payments, CBS News reported.

In addition to presenting Trump with financial troubles, investigations into these properties could also pose legal challenges.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has subpoenaed a New York property tax agency as part of the broad criminal probe, Reuters reported. Prosecutors are looking for signs of possible fraud, the media outlet said.

While Vance’s sprawling probe’s exact scope is not known, court filings suggest that he could be looking into whether Trump and the Trump Organization violated New York laws by manipulating the values of these commercial properties for tax and loan purposes.

The wide-ranging investigation into whether Trump or his businesses violated state tax laws could be reaching its conclusion imminently, Insider reported on Friday.

John Dean, President Richard Nixon’s White House counsel who played a major role in the Watergate scandal, said on Twitter that Trump could be indicted in just a matter of days.

“From personal experience as a key witness, I assure you that you do not visit a prosecutor’s office 7 times if they are not planning to indict those about whom you have knowledge,” Dean’s tweet said.

This refers to Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney, meeting with prosecutors for the seventh time this week. His latest meeting lasted for over two hours, NBC News reported.

Cohen, who was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to several felonies, has previously testified to Congress about Trump’s alleged financial mismanagement. In the 2019 testimony, Cohen said that Trump had manipulated the value of assets “when it served his purposes.”

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