Trump could face more legal trouble after group finds evidence he inflated the value of his golf resorts
12 August 2020
An investigation into President Donald Trump’s financial information has uncovered that the president lied about the value of his Scottish and Irish golf resorts.
Politico reported Tuesday that three of his resorts had an intentionally inflated value in six years of financial records given to the U.S. government. Now, the American Democracy Legal Fund (ADLF), the group behind the finding wants to know why.
“Trump claimed the resorts — Trump International Golf Links Aberdeen and Trump Turnberry, both in Scotland, and Trump Doonbeg in Ireland — brought in a total of about $179 million in revenue on U.S. documents where he is supposed to list his personal income,” wrote Politico’s Anita Kumar. “Records in the United Kingdom and Ireland indicate the resorts‘ revenues were millions of dollars less — about $152 million — and show they actually lost $77 million after accounting for expenses.”
In 2018, Trump said that the Scottish resorts were worth at least $100 million when he disclosed it in the documents, but the U.K. disputed it because Trump had more $80 million in debts that same year.
“Our research has uncovered numerous examples of the Trump Organization reporting potentially fraudulent financial details to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics in addition to apparent inconsistencies, misstatements, and lies in President Trump’s annual financial disclosure filings regarding its overseas golf courses,” said American Democracy Legal Fund (ADLF) President Brad Woodhouse.
The ADLF is now asking Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. to take a closer look into whether Trump broke the law by lying on the financial forms, a letter sent to Vance and the FBI said.
It was revealed last week that Vance is looking at a broader investigation of bank and insurance fraud as part of his request to garner financial documents from Trump’s bank and accountants.
On his financial disclosure documents, Trump said that his two Scottish resorts garnered about $116 million between 2014 and 2018, and the British filings show $106 million in expenses and revenue. Those documents to the British government, Companies House, show about $65 million after expenses. Turnberry hasn’t been able to turn a profit in the past five years, the U.K. records show.
Trump Doonbeg, his Irish golf club, brought in about $10.7 million annually for about $62.7 million in profits between 2014 and 2018, the records show. It was about $46 million after expenses.