Prosecutors Checking Into Trump Organization's $130M Loan For Chicago Tower
Manhattan prosecutors subpoenaed documents from Fortress Investment Group, a New York City-based investment company that loaned millions to The Trump Organization for its Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago, according to a Monday report from CNN, citing people familiar with the investigation.
Fortress provided a $130M loan to The Trump Organization for the 98-story tower at 401 North Wabash Ave. in River North. Builders broke ground on the project in 2005, and it opened four years later.
Prosecutors issued a grand jury subpoena to the New York lender in late 2020, the sources said, a signal that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office continues to expand its inquiry into many aspects of former President Donald Trump’s business dealings.
Prosecutors want to know whether The Trump Organization gave accurate information to lenders and insurers about the true value of several properties, according to CNN. In addition, in the three years after Trump Tower opened, Fortress forgave more than $100M of the loan, and the district attorney is looking into whether Trump’s firm reported that forgiveness as income, as required by Internal Revenue Service rules.
“Fortress has not been accused of any wrongdoing,” CNN added. Both Fortress and Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance declined to speak with the network. A Trump organization attorney also declined to comment.
Vance received millions of pages of tax returns and other financial documentation from Mazars, Trump’s accounting firm, in late February after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the documents could not be withheld from investigators.
