As New York’s attorney general investigates the Trump Organization for cooking fake property values on official documents, lawyers revealed Monday that one of the world’s largest commercial real estate firms is also under investigation for its role in the scheme: Cushman & Wakefield.
Lawyers from AG Letitia James said Monday that the real estate firm is now a central player in its expanded investigation into alleged bank fraud by the Trump family firm.
“They’re right in the middle of this,” Assistant Attorney General Austin Thompson said in court, referring to what investigators have found a key role for the company in the company’s “decade-long history of making false statements about its holdings.”
Cushman & Wakefield, which is headquartered in Chicago but operates worldwide, has provided advisors who helped former President Donald Trump’s firm assess the value of its California and New York properties. The company abruptly cut ties with the Trump Organization in the days following the January 6, 2021 rebellion.
The AG office has taken the position that the company’s decision to distance itself from Trump is itself a suspicious move akin to the recent decision by global accounting firm Mazars USA to ditch Trump — and disavow their work in his favour.
“We think the loud exit from Cushman and Wakefield…is another red flag. We’d like to know more about it,” Thompson said.
The real estate firm’s attorney, Sawnie A. McEntire, painted a different picture. He said the company played a role along with AG’s years-long investigation, handing over documents after receiving four subpoenas and half a dozen employees providing witness testimony to investigators.
“We have not ignored the attorney general’s subpoenas, nor have we put ourselves above the law,” McIntyre said.
The controversy now rages over whether the attorney general’s office can get more evidence, especially now that its investigation appears to be heating up and approaching the point where the office can prosecute the Trump Organization and others for allegedly violating New York business laws.
“The evidence shows that Cushman was wrapped in false statements by Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization like almost any other entity,” Thompson told the judge on Monday.
The AG office has been quietly communicating with the real estate company since June 2019, according to a person familiar with their dealings. However, the law enforcement agency has increased pressure on the company in recent weeks.
On April 8, investigators asked a state court judge to intervene and compel the company to turn over records that reflected how its employees had valued non-Trump properties. Lawyers at the AG’s office made it clear that they wanted to see how they compare in order to better assess how and why Cushman & Wakefield gave Trump such rosy ratings.
But on Monday, Cushman & Wakefield’s legal team attempted to portray this as an unjustified and unfair deep dive into the company’s “confidential, proprietary and extensively proprietary data”.
“The public interest must be balanced against the invasion that will occur here, forcing my client to go through … thousands of his clients and thousands of ratings,” said McIntyre, a Texas attorney.
Judge Arthur Engoron responded by saying that this was no ordinary court case. “The attorney general is authorized to investigate how businesses operate in this state,” he said.
The judge ended the hearing by ordering Cushman & Wakefield to turn over records requested by investigators, giving the company until May 27 to do so.
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