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Deutsche und Donald

The New York Times just reported an explosive piece about President Donald Trump's history with Deutsche Bank, saying the German bank lent the real-estate mogul about $2 billion during their relationship.
The president's association with the struggling German lender was born in the late 1990s, when major Wall Street firms stopped loaning Trump money after a series of disastrous ventures such as the Trump Shuttle airline and Trump's Atlantic City, New Jersey, casinos.
Trump's history with Deutsche Bank is part of multiple investigations into the president and his businesses. The special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation is reportedly looking in to the relationship, as are congressional committees and the New York Attorney General's Office.
Some of the highlights from The Times:
Deutsche Bank cumulatively loaned Trump more than $2 billion over two decades when he was in real estate, according to The New York Times. He reportedly owes the bank about $360 million.
The Times described Trump as once making promises to the reluctant Deutsche bond salesmen tasked with raising buyers for Trump's bonds. "If you get this done, you'll all be my guests at Mar-a-Lago," Trump reportedly said of his private club in Florida. Trump flew about 15 salesmen to the resort on his private plane, The Times said. A year later, in 2004, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts defaulted on the bonds.
He filed a lawsuit against the bank in 2008, days before part of a loan used to build Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago was due, claiming the financial collapse that year was an act of God.
Trump borrowed money from one part of Deutsche Bank to pay off a loan from another, in what The Times called "an extraordinary act of financial chutzpah."
"Deutsche Bank's leaders repeatedly saw red flags surrounding Mr. Trump," The Times said.
The Times said that Deutsche Bank, bracing for more scrutiny after Trump was elected president, ordered employees not to "publicly utter the word 'Trump.'"
Trump inflated his net worth on several occasions. He once said he was worth about $3 billion, but the bank said it was more like $788 million — yet Deutsche Bank continued to work with him.
Trump continued to get loans from the bank as recently as 2015, when a $170 million loan was underwritten for the transformation of the Old Post Office building in Washington.
Prior to Trump's election, The Washington Post reported that he owed roughly $360 million to the bank, with about $125 million in two mortgages for one of the president's major Florida golf courses, Trump National Doral.
Deutsche Bank has been accused of doing inadequate due diligence on its clients after it was linked to both the Danske Bank and Troika Laundromat money-laundering scandals.
Deutsche Bank, the biggest bank in Germany, was, according to Bloomberg, worried about chasing $340 million in loans from a sitting president so considered rewriting the terms.
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NYTIMES.COM
A Mar-a-Lago Weekend and an Act of God: Trump’s History With Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank’s hunger for profits and risk led it to lend Donald Trump more than $2 billion. Once he was elected president, employees were told not to utter his name.

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