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Yes, Donald Trump’s record of fraud even stretches overseas. Here’s how.

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2 months ago

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Donald Trump has been convicted of fraud. Clear and simple.

And it is not just for his brazen attempts to steal through overvaluations, misrepresentations and out-and-out lies to his banks and other financial partners. He lied to boost the value of homes by millions of dollars even across the Atlantic Ocean in Scotland.

Trump, his companies and some of his executives contrived and were found guilty of fraudulently inflating the valuations of Scottish golf club properties by hundreds of millions of dollars even though the homes on these properties were not built and did not exist.

That means Trump certified that homes were built that were not built, and then borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars against the non-existent homes.

Donald Trump was found guilty and liable for this false valuation of property in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. And this was not a one-time error of some kind. Rather the misrepresentation and overvaluation by hundreds of millions of dollars was one of a repeated attempt to defraud Trump’s investors, partners, banks and financial institutions — all of whom trusted him and were duped.

The court ruled that Trump repeatedly misrepresented his net worth by hundreds of millions of dollars to borrow money without collateral. Trump went so far in the Scotland matter to claim that he had permission to build more residential homes than he had permission to build.

That is one reason that the New York attorney general won a civil action against Trump, his two adult sons and the Trump organization. They stood accused of lying about Trump’s net worth and the values of Trump assets around the world for at least a prior 10 years.

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Proof was shown in court that Trump issued false business records and financial statements in order to get better terms on bank loans and insurance deals. Trump also used these false business records to pay a lot less tax than he owed.

Facts are facts. And cheating on taxes repeatedly is not a witch hunt, nor is taking money from lenders against non-existent assets.

When Trump opened a golf club in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the original proposal included a 450-room hotel, 950 holiday apartments, 36 golf villas and 500 houses for sale. The court discovered that Trump had certified that 2,500 homes had already been built.

Trump borrowed heavily against these properties. The fraud was that the properties against which Trump borrowed had not been built.

Not only were the houses not built, but the golf club itself had been running at a deficit since it opened, amassing total losses of millions of dollars.

Of the 500 homes which had been granted permission to be built, no development had taken place. Trump lied to get the money and likely spent it elsewhere.

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Trump stood accused of producing false financial statements that inflated his net worth to dupe banks and to borrow money at lower rates without security.

The court held that this was particularly egregious as once Trump had the money, he decided to indefinitely postpone all development plans, including building the homes that he had used as collateral.

As a result of all this, the court ordered Trump to pay $355 million and interest to New York state for fraud and lying about the values of his properties.

Trump and his golf club in Scotland may have used the money he received fraudulently to underwrite the red ink losses that the golf club continues to sustain. This includes combined annual losses of millions of dollars over the last several years.

The court action led to Trump being shown to have lied perhaps to the tune of a total of billions of dollars through submitting false financial statements to banks and insurance companies.

Think about it.

What would happen if you went to a local bank to borrow $350,000 to buy a home? You tell the bank that this is a new home, who built it, and where the home is located.

It is a brick structure with a 30-year roof and beautiful landscaping. It has hardwood floors, a cathedral ceiling in the living room, three bedrooms and two and a half baths. The heat and cooling is provided by a heat pump.

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You produce an appraisal for $600,000 by a seemingly reputable real estate appraiser. You also furnish the bank with your personal statement showing you have a net worth of $2,000,000. The statement is signed by a seemingly reputable accounting firm.

The loan committee at the bank has their meeting and approves your loan request. You receive a check for the requested $350,000 amount.

You sign all the paperwork pledging the house as collateral, and the bank places a mortgage against it. Then you use the money to pay off your car, buy a boat and go on a vacation to the Caribbean.

While you are gone, the loan officer at the bank decides to drive by your new home.

The problem is that the home is not there. It never was there. It had never been built.

After further digging, it is discovered that you had paid off the appraiser to furnish a false appraisal. And as far as the personal statement is concerned, the statement was produced by your son-in-law, and the $2,000,000 was fake. You have maybe $5,000 in assets.

The bank says that you committed fraud. You say that they are on a witch hunt, and besides you are running for president and should be immune to charges of committing fraud.

If this were you, you’d be looking at jail. Yet, Donald Trump thinks he is entitled — that he can and should get away with it. Will you let him?

Bill Gindlesperger is a central Pennsylvanian, Dickinson College graduate, Pennsylvania System Of Higher Education (PASSHE) Governor, Shippensburg University Trustee, and Chairman of eLynxx Solutions. eLynxx provides cloud-software for sourcing and managing print and mail marketing. He is a board member, campaign advisor, successful entrepreneur, published author and commentator. He can be reached at Bill.Gindlesperger@eLynxx.com.

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