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Trump's Company Paid Bribes to Reduce Property Taxes, Assessors Say
From Pro Publica
Trump’s Company Paid Bribes to Reduce Property Taxes, Assessors Say
Five former city employees and a former Trump Organization employee say the company used middlemen to pay New York City tax assessors to lower building assessments and pay less taxes in the 1980s and 1990s.
The Trump Organization paid bribes, through middlemen, to New York City tax assessors to lower its property tax bills for several Manhattan buildings in the 1980s and 1990s, according to five former tax assessors and city employees as well as a former Trump Organization employee.
Two of the five city employees said they personally took bribes to lower the assessment on a Trump property; the other three said they had indirect knowledge of the payments.
The city employees were among 18 indicted in 2002 for taking bribes in exchange for lowering the valuations of properties, which in turn reduced the taxes owed for the buildings. All of the 18 eventually pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Manhattan except for one, who died before his case was resolved.
No building owners were charged, though the addresses of some of the properties involved became public. Trump Organization buildings were not on that list. No evidence has emerged that Donald Trump personally knew of or participated in the alleged bribery.
Trump denied any wrongdoing at the time, and the Trump Organization reiterated that position in response to questions for this article. “To be clear, at no time did the Trump Organization or any of its employees or principals ever pay anyone for the purpose of unlawfully obtaining a lower tax valuation,” Alan Garten, the Trump Organization’s chief legal officer, wrote in a statement. “This was corroborated by multiple investigations which found no evidence of any wrongdoing by the company or any of its principals. ... If anything, the Trump Organization was a victim of the scandal.”
Asked to provide evidence or name the agencies that allegedly cleared the company, Garten did not provide additional details, saying, “I was referring to the different investigations conducted by the state and federal authorities at the time.”
The moment that corrupt assessors told their co-conspirators that the Trump Organization had agreed to pay bribes was memorable, said Frank Valvo, a former city assessor who served a year and a half in prison for his role in the scheme.
The excitement was palpable in the office, Valvo recalled, as one of the assessors broached the news. “He says, ‘We got Trump!’” Valvo recalled. “Wow. Holy Smokes.”
Two former city employees, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told ProPublica and WNYC that they accepted money from middlemen representing the Trump Organization to lower assessments on 40 Wall St. after Trump took over the skyscraper in 1995.
The assessors’ scandal burst into the news just months after the Sept. 11 attacks, revealing deep-seated corruption in the city’s sprawling bureaucracy with potential fallout for some of Manhattan’s wealthiest landholders. A joint city and federal investigation found that the assessors took more than $10 million in bribes over 35 years and changed the assessed value of at least 562 properties.
Valvo told ProPublica and WNYC, “I’m guilty of what I did. I’m not going to hide that.” He said he’s speaking because he’s now 88, and he “wants the truth to come out” about the property owners.
Two of the five city employees said they personally took bribes to lower the assessment on a Trump property; the other three said they had indirect knowledge of the payments.
The city employees were among 18 indicted in 2002 for taking bribes in exchange for lowering the valuations of properties, which in turn reduced the taxes owed for the buildings. All of the 18 eventually pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Manhattan except for one, who died before his case was resolved.
No building owners were charged, though the addresses of some of the properties involved became public. Trump Organization buildings were not on that list. No evidence has emerged that Donald Trump personally knew of or participated in the alleged bribery.
Trump denied any wrongdoing at the time, and the Trump Organization reiterated that position in response to questions for this article. “To be clear, at no time did the Trump Organization or any of its employees or principals ever pay anyone for the purpose of unlawfully obtaining a lower tax valuation,” Alan Garten, the Trump Organization’s chief legal officer, wrote in a statement. “This was corroborated by multiple investigations which found no evidence of any wrongdoing by the company or any of its principals. ... If anything, the Trump Organization was a victim of the scandal.”
Asked to provide evidence or name the agencies that allegedly cleared the company, Garten did not provide additional details, saying, “I was referring to the different investigations conducted by the state and federal authorities at the time.”
The moment that corrupt assessors told their co-conspirators that the Trump Organization had agreed to pay bribes was memorable, said Frank Valvo, a former city assessor who served a year and a half in prison for his role in the scheme.
The excitement was palpable in the office, Valvo recalled, as one of the assessors broached the news. “He says, ‘We got Trump!’” Valvo recalled. “Wow. Holy Smokes.”
Two former city employees, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told ProPublica and WNYC that they accepted money from middlemen representing the Trump Organization to lower assessments on 40 Wall St. after Trump took over the skyscraper in 1995.
The assessors’ scandal burst into the news just months after the Sept. 11 attacks, revealing deep-seated corruption in the city’s sprawling bureaucracy with potential fallout for some of Manhattan’s wealthiest landholders. A joint city and federal investigation found that the assessors took more than $10 million in bribes over 35 years and changed the assessed value of at least 562 properties.
Valvo told ProPublica and WNYC, “I’m guilty of what I did. I’m not going to hide that.” He said he’s speaking because he’s now 88, and he “wants the truth to come out” about the property owners.