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- Prosecutors in Maryland subpoenaed financial documents from DJT Holdings LLC, a UK company that owns President Donald Trump’s golf courses in Scotland, The Times of London reported.
- They form part of a probe into whether Trump is still profiting from his companies, which would violate the US Constitution’s Emoluments Clause.
- The clause bans public officials from receiving gifts or cash without Congressional approval.
- Glenn Simpson, the co-founder of Fusion GPS, made a tentative link between the courses and Russia. Fusion GPS is the company behind the infamous "golden showers" dossier alleging that Russia has a hold on Trump.
- He told The US House Intelligence Committee that the president’s UK resorts are "concerning" and there were "enormous amounts of capital flowing into these projects from unknown sources."
US prosecutors have ordered the company that owns President Donald Trump’s golf courses in Scotland to show its financial filings in an attempt to reveal the company’s ownership, The Times of London reported.
Prosecutors in Maryland subpoenaed documents and access to properties controlled by DJT Holdings LLC, a UK-registered trust that owns Trump’s Washington, DC, hotel and resorts in places like Turnberry, Scotland, and The Times reported.
The documents are part of an investigation into Trump International Washington, an old post office building in the US capital that Trump converted into a luxury hotel in 2016, The Times said.
Trump has attempted to have this case dismissed multiple times.
INSIDER has contacted the Maryland Attorney General for confirmation and comment.
Getty/Mark Wilson
Brian Frosh, the attorney-general for Maryland, said he was "seeking information proving that hotel revenues were flowing to the president through his affiliated entities," according to The Times.
Frosh added: "We are confident that at the end of discovery we will be able to prove our case that President Trump is violating the constitution’s emoluments clauses, America’s first anti-corruption laws."
The US Constitution’s Emoluments Clause prohibits public officials from receiving gifts or cash from foreign or state governments without congressional approval.
AP
It is not clear how DJT Holdings in funded.
People probing Trump’s ties to Russia, including Rep. Adam Schiff and Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson, have discussed whether Moscow was financially involved in DJT Holdings.
Fusion GPS was the research firm that hired former MI6 officer Christopher Steele, who wrote a dossier alleging that Trump hired prostitutes to "perform a ‘golden showers‘ (urination) show in front of him" during a visit to the Moscow Ritz-Carlton in 2013.
Simpson told a congressional hearing last January that Trump’s golf courses in Scotland and Ireland were "concerning" because their financial statements show "enormous amounts of capital flowing into these projects from unknown sources."
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
Simpson said that the golf courses "don’t, on their face, show Russian involvement, but what they do show is enormous amounts of capital flowing into these projects from unknown sources and — or at least on paper it says it’s from the Trump Organization, but it’s hundreds of millions of dollars."
"These golf courses are just, you know, they’re sinks," he added. "They don’t actually make any money."
INSIDER has contacted the Trump Organization and Trump Turnberry for comment on The Times’ report and Simpson’s comments.
Read more: Fusion GPS interview with House panel leaves huge pile of breadcrumbs for Trump-Russia investigators
AP Photo/Peter Morrison
The subpoena into DJT Holdings comes after The New York Times reported that the Trump Organization asked Deutsche Bank for a loan to pay for work on a golf resort in Turnberry during the 2016 campaign.
However, the German lender refused, reportedly worrying that public knowledge of a new financial deal with Trump would hurt its reputation.
The New York Times said the Trump Organization denied requesting any loans for the purchase or refurbishment of Turnberry, but did not explicitly deny asking Deutsche Bank for money.
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Source: Business Insider