Prosecutors in New York who have been probing more than $350 million in loans Donald Trump took out on Trump Tower and three other Manhattan properties are honing in on allegations of financial crimes.
The years-old criminal investigation has made the former US president vulnerable to prosecution despite being acquitted at his second impeachment trial.
Property records show Mr Trump was loaned more than $US280 million ($A361 million) for four Manhattan buildings that prosecutors believe could possibly reveal “extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organisation”.
The properties in question are Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue; a skyscraper at 40 Wall Street; a hotel and residential building on Columbus Circle near Central Park; and an apartment building on the Upper East Side.
The loans were made to Mr Trump by companies connected to New York City real estate investment trust, Ladder Capital Corp.
Mr Trump is in the spotlight for allegedly making dodgy deals in which he kept two sets of record-keeping books, giving one set of figures to his lenders and a different set to tax authorities.
A decision is imminent on whether District Attorney Cyrus Vance can access Mr Trump’s tax records.
He is one of the investigators who are looking to see if what’s on the former president’s tax records differ from what’s on his financial statements.
There are concerns Mr Trump gave out fake information on his loan applications to get the loans for the four buildings approved.
Mr Trump faces a swathe of other legal problems now that he’s out of the White House.
He’s staring down the barrel of at least two state-level investigations – one in New York, the other in Georgia – as well as criminal charges for his role in the Capitol Hill riots.
And this time, he won’t have nearly as many Republicans going in to bat for him.
Quite the opposite.
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