Ivanka And Donald Trump Jr. Knowingly Lied To Defraud Investors In Luxury New York Condos, Book Claims
Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump “knew they were lying” when they exaggerated figures of how well their luxury New York condominiums were selling, a new book claims.
As The Guardian reported, an expose from journalist Andrew Bernstein claimed that the pair took part in a fraudulent scheme to fool investors around a Trump SoHo property in Manhattan. The book revealed that emails from the siblings showed that they purposely used figures exaggerating how well the condos were selling, all in an attempt to attract more buyers.
According to The Guardian, the book follows up on earlier reporting on the condo sales, which showed that the figures released by the Trump family did not match data that was filed with state and federal agencies. As The New York Times had reported, these filings showed that the company had sold only between 15 percent and 30 percent of condos by the start of 2009. However, in June 2008, Ivanka claimed publicly that 60 percent had been sold, while in 2009, her older brother stated that 55 percent were sold.
As the report added, investors have already pursued legal action against the Trump family for allegedly defrauding investors.
“Buyers of units in Trump SoHo sued Trump, arguing that they had been defrauded by inflated claims of sales. The Manhattan district attorney’s office then began investigating whether the allegations could also constitute a crime, issuing subpoenas and carrying out interviews.”
As Pro Publica reported in 2017, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. were both close to being charged for the scheme, with prosecutors in New York preparing a case against the two. The report noted that District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. then overruled his staff after a personal meeting with Trump attorney Marc Kasowitz. As the report noted, Kasowitz was one of Vance’s largest donors, giving $25,000 to the re-election campaign of the Manhattan D.A.
The report claimed that Kasowitz later bragged to colleagues that he represented the Trump children and that the case was “really dangerous to them.” He reportedly added that it was “amazing I got them off,” though he later denied making the statement.
According to Bernstein, emails showed that Ivanka and Donald Jr. were aware that some reporters were growing wise to the inflated numbers. However, the siblings allegedly said in one email chain that they were confident no one would ever find out and that only those receiving the emails and those in the Trump Organization were aware of the false claims.
