Tax and loan documents for Trump properties showed inconsistencies: report

Source: The Hill | October 16, 2019 | Naomi Jagoda

Tax and loan documents for two of President Trump’s New York City properties showed discrepancies in how some occupancy figures, expenses and profits were reported, ProPublica reported Wednesday.

Real estate experts told the news outlet that there can be legitimate reasons for figures to differ between tax and loan documents, but that they didn’t see obvious explanations for some of the discrepancies with Trump’s properties. ProPublica said that the Trump Organization didn’t comment on the record to the news outlet’s detailed questions.

ProPublica obtained property tax documents for four of Trump’s New York properties that were public because Trump appealed the tax bills. The new outlet then compared the tax documents with loan records that became public when Trump’s lender sold debt on the properties.

ProPublica said there were noticeable discrepancies between the tax records and the loan records for two of the properties: 40 Wall Street and Trump International Hotel and Tower. Both of these properties were refinanced while Trump was running for president.

With 40 Wall Street, Trump’s representatives had reported to his lender, Ladder Capital, that the building was 58.9 percent occupied on Dec. 31, 2012 but then increased to 95 percent occupied a few years later. However, Trump’s representatives reported to New York City property tax officials that the building was 81 percent leased as of Jan. 5, 2013, according to ProPublica.

The news outlet said that a depiction of rising occupancy, and an explanation from Trump’s representatives that rising income would follow the increase in occupancy, was helpful in Trump securing a loan refinancing. Ladder Capital’s underwriters predicted that the building’s profits would more than double after 2015.

The tax and loan documents for 40 Wall Street also had significant discrepancies in how they reported certain costs, such as insurance.

With the Trump International Hotel and Tower, Trump’s company told tax officials that it made about $822,000 in 2017 from renting space in the building to other businesses. However, Trump’s business told loan officials that the building made $1.67 million. Trump also appeared to not report income from leasing space for television antennas on tax documents, but did report such income on loan documents, according to ProPublica.

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