A month after Michael Cohen testified that President Trump frequently inflated his wealth as a businessman, The Washington Post has obtained financial statements it says are full of obvious exaggerations and misstatements.
The Post on Thursday obtained some "Statements of Financial Condition" Trump provided to lenders and investors as a businessman from 2002 through 2013. Here are some of the key details from the report:
1. In one statement, Trump allegedly claimed he had 55 home lots for sale at his golf club, when in fact he only had 31 lots available. The difference is the equivalent of $72 million in future revenue, the Post says.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
2. Trump allegedly described Trump Tower as a "68 story bronze glass structure," even though Trump Tower only has 58 stories.
3. Trump reportedly claimed to own a 2,000-acre vineyard, even though the vineyard in question is only 1,200 acres.
4. Trump reportedly claimed an estate he owned was valued at $261 million, when local assessors actually valued it at about $20 million. He apparently got to this inflated number based on homes he didn't officially have approval to build.
5. Trump intentionally did not include information about two buildings he owns in one statement so that "readers can't get a full picture of how much he owes, and to whom," the Post writes.
6. Trump in on document claimed that his net worth was $8.6 billion because his "brand value" is worth $4 billion. This was not present in previous statements, the Post says.
7. The report raised questions about whether Trump may have committed fraud with these statements, with George Conway, Kellyanne Conway's husband, writing on Twitter, "people go to prison for things like this."
8. One expert told the Post, however, that disclaimers Trump's accountants provided along with statements might put him in the clear, also arguing the records being so obviously ridiculous and incorrect could actually work in Trump's favor. After all, they're so "humorous" that he wondered if anyone could have possibly believed them anyway.
