Deutsche Bank [TRDataCustom] refused to hand over information on its business dealings with President Trump following a request from Democratic members of Congress.
“Deutsche Bank, like other financial institutions, is not permitted to disclose details related to its customers,” the bank’s lawyers wrote in a letter published Friday. “This is true even if the individual is a government official or well-known person, and even in circumstances where the individual has made some disclosure regarding their relationship with their banking institution.”
The Department of Justice is currently investigating the German lender for allegedly helping Russian oligarchs launder money. At the same time the bank has been a key lender to Donald Trump’s real estate business, issuing around $300 million in loans on his hotels and golf courses over the past couple of years. Democratic lawmakers argued that his poses a conflict of interest.
“President Trump’s conflict of interest with Deutsche Bank…may undermine the independence and impartiality of the Department’s ongoing investigation and diminish the likelihood that Deutsche Bank and its senior leadership will be brought to justice,” the lawmakers wrote in March.
As the minority party in Congress, Democrats can’t force the bank to reveal information.
Donald Trump personally guaranteed his Deutsche Bank loans, and in late March Bloomberg reported that talks to remove that guarantee had yet to reach a conclusion. [Bloomberg] — Konrad Putzier
(To view more of Deutsche Bank’s financing transactions, click here)