Deutsche Bank Might Have Destroyed Physical Copies of Trump's Tax Returns, Cleansed Servers, Claims Former Executive: Report
A former Deutsche Bank executive who reviewed President Donald Trump's tax returns reportedly said it is "not normal" that the institution no longer holds copies of those records.
Trump for many years relied on Deutsche Bank for loans to sustain his real estate business when many other institutions would not lend to him because of his rocky financial history.
The president is accused by some, including his former attorney Michael Cohen, of manipulating the value of his assets to either secure finance or reduce his tax bill.
He has broken with recent precedent for presidents and refused to release publicly all of his recent tax returns, despite pressure to do so.
Congress is investigating Trump's finances and attempting to get hold of his tax returns from Deutsche. But the bank told the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals that it did not hold them.
David Enrich, finance editor at The New York Times, posted to Twitter a screenshot of his conversation with the unnamed executive in which they expressed surprise that Deutsche told a federal appeals court it did not have the president's tax returns anymore.
"Holy f**k," the executive wrote, per the screenshot. "The circumstance could be that they returned any physical copies or destroyed any physical copies under an agreement with a client and cleansed their servers. Not normal though."
Deutsche Bank did not respond immediately to Newsweek's request for comment.
In previous statements, Deutsche Bank has said: "We remain committed to cooperating with authorized investigations."
At a congressional hearing in February, Trump's former fixer Cohen—who went to prison for tax fraud, campaign finance violations, and lying to Congress in past testimony—said the president reduced his real estate bills by artificially devaluing his assets, committing tax fraud.
Moreover, Cohen said Trump inflated his assets to insurance companies. He said the evidence could be found on Trump's tax returns.
On Monday, a federal judge ruled that Trump's accountant Mazars USA should hand his tax returns and other financial records over to investigators at the Manhattan District Attorney's office.
They are probing the hush payments to porn stars alleging affairs with the president. Trump's lawyers attempted to block the Manhattan DA's subpoena of Mazars for eight years of the president's financial records.
Judge Victor Marrero wrote in his 75-page ruling that the case presented by Trump's attorneys was "repugnant to the nation's governmental structure and constitutional values" for suggesting that the president, his family, businesses, and associates are "above the law."
