Top House Democrat: Reports of Deutsche Bank squashing shady Trump financial transactions 'reinforces the need' for Deutsche to comply with Congress' subpoena
- House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters told INSIDER that a recent New York Times report detailing how Deutsche Bank squashed shady financial transactions linked to Trump and Jared Kushner "reinforces the need" for the panel to "obtain the documents we have subpoenaed from the bank."
- Waters said that in addition to helping the committee examine the strength of US anti-money laundering laws, the subpoena will also help it determine "whether bank executives have too much discretion in the process for reporting suspicious financial activity to the Treasury Department."
- The House Financial Services Committee and House Intelligence Committee subpoenaed Deutsche and several other financial institutions connected to Trump last month as part of a joint investigation into his business dealings.
- Trump in turn sued Deutsche Bank to prevent it from complying with congressional subpoenas.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
The chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee told INSIDER on Tuesday that a New York Times article detailing how Deutsche Bank buried reports of potentially illegal financial activity linked to President Donald Trump and Jared Kushner "reinforces the need" for the panel "to obtain the documents we have subpoenaed from the bank."
"This proves my point that as the Financial Services Committee examines and considers reforms to our nation's anti-money laundering laws, we must consider issues as whether bank executives have too much discretion in the process for reporting suspicious financial activity to the Treasury Department, and the information we have subpoenaed from Deutsche Bank will help to inform that legislative process," Rep. Maxine Waters told INSIDER.
Waters' statement came after The Times reported that several Deutsche Bank employees flagged suspicious transactions involving legal entities controlled by Trump and Kushner, and recommended they be reported to the US Treasury Department's financial crimes unit.
But according to The Times, top executives at the bank declined to do so and the reports were never filed.
Tammy McFadden, a former Deutsche employee who used to work at the bank's anti-money laundering division, also told the outlet she reported a series of suspicious money transfers between Kushner Companies and Russian individuals at the height of the 2016 US election.
She discovered the transfers in the summer of 2016. At the time, Trump was the Republican nominee for president, and the Russian government's effort to interfere in the US election and propel Trump to the Oval Office was well underway.
Usually, a report like McFadden's would be reviewed by a team of anti-money laundering experts who work separately from the private-banking division, McFadden and two other former Deutsche Bank managers told The Times.
But in this case, the sources said the report went to managers in New York who were part of the private-banking division. They decided McFadden's concerns were unfounded and decided not to submit the report to the government's financial crimes watchdog.
Deutsche Bank has long been under scrutiny for its lax lending standards, as well as its willingness to do business with Trump when most other banks refused to work with him because of his financial troubles.
The House Financial Services Committee and the House Intelligence Committee subpoenaed Deutsche Bank in April as part of a joint investigation into Trump's financial dealings. They also subpoenaed JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Bank of America as part of an investigation into Russian money laundering in the US.
Shortly after, Deutsche Bank began turning over documents to the committees. But Trump, his children, the Trump Organization, and the Trump family trust later sued Deutsche and Capitol One to prevent them from complying with congressional subpoenas.
The lawsuit alleges that the subpoenas "have no legitimate or lawful purpose" and were issued to "harass" Trump and "to rummage through every aspect of his personal finances, his businesses, and the private information of the President and his family, and to ferret about for any material that might be used to cause him political damage."
According to financial disclosures and public filings from 2012 to 2015, Deutsche has loaned Trump's businesses more than $300 million to finance a golf course in Florida and hotels in Chicago and Washington.
Kushner has also disclosed that he and his mother have shared an unsecured line of credit from the bank ranging from $5 million to $25 million.
Deutsche Bank is also in the process of turning over documents about Trump's finances to the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to INSIDER last month.
James in March subpoenaed Deutsche Bank and Investors Bank in New Jersey for records related to several Trump properties. James' subpoena was based on the testimony that Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer and longtime fixer, gave in February to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.