Reuters
- A federal judge on Wednesday denied President Donald Trump’s request to block congressional subpoenas to Deutsche Bank and Capital One for his financial records.
- The House Financial Services Committee and House Intelligence Committee subpoenaed Deutsche and several other financial institutions connected to Trump last month as part of a joint investigation into his business dealings.
- Trump in turn sued Deutsche Bank to prevent it from complying with congressional subpoenas.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
A federal judge denied President Donald Trump’s request to block congressional subpoenas to Deutsche Bank and Capital One for his financial records.
Wednesday’s ruling is the second major legal defeat for Trump in recent days as he seeks to stonewall Congress’ sprawling inquiries into his administration, personal life, campaign, business dealings, inauguration committee, and more. Last week, a federal judge struck down Trump’s effort to block a subpoena to his accounting firm.
Deutsche Bank has long been under scrutiny for its lax lending standards, as well as its willingness to do business with Trump when most other banks refused to work with him because of his financial troubles.
The House Financial Services Committee and the House Intelligence Committee subpoenaed Deutsche Bank in April as part of a joint investigation into Trump’s financial dealings. They also subpoenaed JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Bank of America as part of an investigation into Russian money laundering in the US.
Shortly after, Deutsche Bank began turning over documents to the committees. But Trump, his children, the Trump Organization, and the Trump family trust then sued Deutsche and Capitol One to prevent them from complying with congressional subpoenas.
The lawsuit alleged that the subpoenas "have no legitimate or lawful purpose" and were issued to "harass" Trump and "to rummage through every aspect of his personal finances, his businesses, and the private information of the President and his family, and to ferret about for any material that might be used to cause him political damage."
Last week, The New York Times reported that several Deutsche Bank employees flagged suspicious transactions involving legal entities controlled by Trump and Jared Kushner, and recommended they be reported to the US Treasury Department’s financial crimes unit.
But according to The Times, top executives at the bank declined to do so and the reports were never filed.
According to financial disclosures and public filings from 2012 to 2015, Deutsche has loaned Trump’s businesses more than $300 million to finance a golf course in Florida and hotels in Chicago and Washington.
Kushner has also disclosed that he and his mother have shared an unsecured line of credit from the bank ranging from $5 million to $25 million, a type of loan where none of the borrower’s major assets can be seized should they default.
Deutsche Bank is also in the process of turning over documents about Trump’s finances to the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to INSIDER last month.
James in March subpoenaed Deutsche Bank and Investors Bank in New Jersey for records related to several Trump properties. James’ subpoena was based on the testimony that Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and longtime fixer, gave in February to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
See Also:
- Top House Democrat: Reports of Deutsche Bank squashing shady Trump financial transactions ‘reinforces the need’ for Deutsche to comply with Congress’ subpoena
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just called out Democratic leaders for not moving to impeach Trump
- Joe Biden is running for president in 2020. Here’s everything we know about the candidate and how he stacks up against the competition.
SEE ALSO: A federal judge dealt a huge blow to Trump’s efforts to stonewall Congress
Source: Business Insider – ssheth@businessinsider.com (Sonam Sheth)