Deutsche Bank has launched an internal review into Rosemary Vrablic, the longtime personal banker of President Trump and his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, The New York Times reports.
The bank is specifically investigating a real estate transaction involving Vrablic and a company called Bergel 715 Associates. In June 2013, Vrablic and two of her co-workers in Deutsche Bank's private banking division bought a $1.5 million Manhattan apartment from Bergel 715. At the time, Kushner held an ownership stake in Bergel 715, a person with knowledge of the matter told the Times.
On Friday, Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, stated in an annual personal financial report that in 2019, they received $1 million to $5 million from Bergel 715. This was the first time the couple ever disclosed their stake in the company, the Times reports, and this income was not related to the Vrablic transaction.
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In 2013, Donald Trump and Kushner were both clients of Vrablic, and they had collectively received about $190 million in loans from Deutsche Bank, with more to come later, the Times reports. Bank employees are normally not allowed to conduct personal business with clients due to the potential for conflicts of interest, and Deutsche Bank told the Times the company was not aware of the transaction before being contacted by the newspaper.
One of Bergel 715's main owners is George Gellert, a Kushner family friend and investor, and it is unclear the size of Kushner's stake in the entity. Vrablic joined Deutsche Bank's private banking division in 2006, and the Kushner family worked with her before then. Kushner introduced Vrablic to Trump in 2011, at a time when Trump was struggling to find people to lend him money due to defaults and bankruptcies, the Times reports.
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