Trump Property Jumping Valuation

[lpetrich]

N.Y. prosecutors set sights on new Trump target: Widely different valuations on the same properties - The Washington Post

The Trump Organization owns an office building at 40 Wall Street in Manhattan. In 2012, when the company was listing its assets for potential lenders, it said the building was worth $527 million — which would make it among the most valuable in New York.

But just a few months later, the Trump Organization told property tax officials that the entire 70-story building was worth less than a high-end Manhattan condo: just $16.7 million, according to newly released city records.

That was less than one-thirtieth the amount it had claimed the year before.

...
After the indictment of the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer this summer for income tax fraud, prosecutors now appear to be examining whether the company broke the law by providing low values to property tax officers, while using high ones to garner tax breaks or impress lenders.

...
Among the other properties under scrutiny: former president Donald Trump’s California golf club, for which he valued the same parcel of land at $900,000 and $25 million depending on the intended audience, and an estate in suburban New York, for which Trump’s valuations ranged from $56 million up to $291 million. The valuations were all given in the five years before Trump won the presidency.

... In Los Angeles, they have asked for geology reports on the rock layers under Trump’s course — where the value was affected by a history of landslides.

...
Real estate appraisers said it was highly unusual for any property owner to give such widely different values for the same property during the same time period.

“This is way, way beyond anything that’s believable,” said Norm Miller, a professor of real estate finance at the University of San Diego who has appraised properties for 50 years. “I’ve never seen anything with a gap that extreme.”

But will prosecutors be able to prove that these jumping valuations are deliberate?

Michael Cohen is a free man and vows to cooperate with law enforcement - CNNPolitics -- he served his time

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez questions Michael Cohen (C-SPAN) - YouTube

He testified about the jumping valuations of some of Trump's golf courses, like in Jupiter FL and Briarcliff Manor NY.

Our Properties has a complete list of Trump's golf courses.

 

[Elixir]

But will prosecutors be able to prove that these jumping valuations are deliberate?

Totally pisses me off. I mistakenly said I had paid a higher quarterly estimate than I had actually remitted a few years ago. Just a few hundred bucks difference, and I had to pay the difference plus a thousand dollar penalty. Nobody asked if it was deliberate.