Former prosecutor claims Donald Trump ran an 'empire built on lies, inflated ... trends now
Mark Pomerantz, a former senior prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney's office who was involved in the investigation of Donald Trump's business dealings, has said the former president ran 'an empire built on lies.'
Speaking to CBS 60 Minutes on Sunday night, Pomerantz revealed how there were 'many bits and pieces of evidence' that could support criminal charges against the former president.
Pomerantz, who oversaw the investigation into Trump and his businesses until early last year, noted how if similar evidence had been against anyone else, charges would have been brought without hesitation in a 'flat second.'
The former prosecutor pointed to evidence he had access to during the investigation. He claims Trump 'inflated his worth by billions'.
After scouring Trump's life and business, Pomerantz says prosecutors agreed on a case involving allegations that Trump falsified records by inflating the value of assets on financial statements he provided lenders.
One key charge is how Trump is alleged to have personally signed off on inflating his own net worth in order to obtain more favorable banks loans.
Mark Pomerantz, a former senior prosecutor in the Manhattan DA's office who investigated of Trump's business dealings, said 'his empire was built on lies'
Trump has stated that the case against him is a politically driven witch hunt and has constantly denied any wrongdoing, but the former prosecutor disagrees
It includes Trump's own signature on a Deutsche Bank loan in which he certified the accuracy of his financial statements.
'There were many bits and pieces of evidence on which we could rely in making that case,' Pomerantz said.
Pomerantz claims to have documents proving that Trump lied about the size of his Fifth Avenue condominium.
'He warrants that the financial statements are true and correct in all material respects. Finally of course on the guaranty is his sharpie signature, Donald J. Trump,' Pomerantz said.
Pomerantz claims he has documents proving Trump knew the size of his 10,996-square-foot Fifth Avenue condominium, but lied claiming in 2015 and 2016 that it was really 30,000 square feet.
Pomerantz claims Trump lied about his assets to appear wealthier than he was in order to obtain multimillion dollar favorable bank loans to expand his real estate empire.
He said Trump then used the money to buy the Doral Hotel in Miami, refinance the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago and renovate the Old Post Office property in Washington DC.
'What the investigation determined was that the financial statements that were submitted to banks for those years were overstated in each case by literally billions of dollars,' Pomerantz told CBS News.
'The financial statements that he prepared were given to the banks, and had to be given to the banks, in order to get the loans that he got. So he got hundreds of millions of dollars of bank financing in connection with many of his properties.'
CBS reporter Bill Whitaker sought to clarify his remarks: 'It sounds like you're saying that his empire is built on lies?'
Pomerantz claims he has documents proving Trump knew the size of his 10,996-square-foot Fifth Avenue condominium, but lied claiming in 2015 and 2016 that it was really 30,000 sq ft
Pomerantz then detailed how Trump allegedly dramatically pushed up the valuations of his properties including his Mar-a-Lago country club. Accounting spreadsheets valued Florida's Mar-a-Lago at $739 million in 2018; but New York Attorney General James concluded it was only worth about $75 million
'His empire was built on lies. I am saying that.'
Pomerantz then detailed how Trump allegedly dramatically pushed up the valuations of his properties including his Mar-a-Lago country club, 40 Wall Street, Seven Springs in Westchester County, New York together with some of his golf clubs, and his penthouse apartment.
Trump has stated that the case against him is a politically driven witch hunt and has constantly denied any wrongdoing because he has since paid off the loans, but the former prosecutor disagrees.
'That doesn't mean the banks are okay with false financial statements. The law is crystal clear that you don't have to prove that a loan wasn't repaid or that a bank lost money. It's still a crime to lie to a bank to get a loan.'
Pomerantz explains how Trump allegedly inflated the value of certain assets, in particular his properties.
'It was easier to "bump up" certain assets than other assets. Seven Springs, Mar-a-Lago, the triplex: his residences, each of which, by the way, he claimed to have a value in that was more than anybody had ever bought or sold a private residence for in the history of the United States, ever,' Pomerantz said.
'The tactics varied from property to property to property. What they had in common was that they were dishonest.'
Accounting spreadsheets valued Florida's Mar-a-Lago at $739 million in 2018; but New York Attorney General James concluded it was only worth about $75 million.
Trump's Seven Springs property in Westchester was valued at $161 million in 2014 but then the Trump Organization's own appraiser valued the development rights between $29 million and $50 million.
A golf course in Jupiter, Florida, was bought by Trump for $5 million in 2012 but he later valued it at $62 million before filing a
