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Cushman & Wakefield appeals subpoena

The entrance to Trump Tower on 5th Avenue is pictured in the Manhattan borough of New York City, May 19, 2021.

Shannon Stapleton | Reuters

Commercial real estate services giant Cushman and Wakefield on Wednesday appealed a judge’s order that it complied with a subpoena issued by the New York attorney general’s office seeking documents related to an appraisal of property owned by the former President. Donald Trumpof the company.

Cushman & Wakefield argues that complying with subpoenas for tens of thousands of pages of documents compromises the confidential information of nearly 1,000 of its clients, who have no connection to the Trump Organization or its affiliates. The property is being watched by Attorney General Letitia James in her civil investigation. of Trump.

Cushman also submitted to the court an affidavit from an independent valuation consultant, who wrote that the documents James’s office sought “will not provide a reliable basis for assessment or approval.” appraisal” of Trump properties already owned by AG.

“While we are filing this appeal out of an obligation to protect our customers’ privacy and maintain the integrity of our customer relationships, we would like to continue working with the General’s Office.” attorney and hopes for a prompt and successful conclusion to the investigation,” the company said in a statement.

And the company said, “Cushman’s appraisers did nothing wrong, and Cushman stands behind the appraisers and their appraisers.”

James is investigating the Trump Organization over claims that the company unlawfully manipulated the valuation of stated real estate properties to obtain more favorable financing terms in loans, insurance policies. and taxes relating to such assets.

Last month, the AG’s office said Cushman had refused to comply with a subpoena for information related to an appraisal of three properties owned by Trump – Seven Springs Estate, Trump National Golf Club, Los Angeles and 40 Wall Street – “and information about Cushman’s larger business relationship with the Trump Organization.”

James’s office says evidence shows the Trump Organization has submitted “fraudulent or misleading assessments of conservation measures to the Internal Revenue Service” related to the first two of those properties. .

And the office said Cushman gave three appraisals to Capital One Bank involving 40 Wall Street in Manhattan valuing that property between $200 million and $220 million between 2010 and 2012, before giving issued an appraisal for Ladder Capital Finance LLC in 2015. same building for $550 million.

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That final due diligence was used by the Trump Organization to secure a loan from Ladder Capital, the firm that employed the son of Allen Weisselberg, the Trump company’s chief financial officer.

On April 25, Judge Arthur Engoron of the Manhattan Supreme Court ordered Cushman to comply with James’ subpoena and give the company until the end of May to turn over the documents.

The order comes hours after Engoron disdained Trump in court for failing to comply with another subpoena from James for business documents she believes to be in his possession. ta.

Engoron on Wednesday lifted that disparaging conclusion on the condition that Trump pay James a $110,000 fine and provide additional information about his search for documents Trump claimed he did not have.

Cushman earlier on Wednesday asked Engoron to reconsider its decision to uphold subpoenas targeting the company. Engoron quickly denied that request, calling it “null and void” and “simply a settlement of matters reasonably decided by this court from an earlier point of view.”

Cushman said in court filings related to his appeal Wednesday that last September its attorneys met mostly with officials from James’s office to provide company-standardized assessments. equipment for the Trump Organization at Seven Springs, Trump National Golf Club-Los Angeles and 40 Wall Street. In January, Cushman agreed to “make concessions” to James’s office “to resolve the issues raised by [the attorney general’s team] in the September meeting”.

Cushman also said that the attorney general’s office confirmed in writing that Cushman’s presentation of Trump-related documents “constitutes confidential settlement discussions.”

The company said that when James’s office asked Engoron to uphold the subpoena issued to Cushman for other documents, it “breached its promise to Cushman” by including information obtained from Cushman during the interview. January meeting.

“Cushman was promised and expected” that the document would be confidential, the company said in a statement.

A spokesperson for James said, in a statement to CNBC: “The court has clearly ruled that Cushman & Wakefield must comply with our subpoenas and turn over information relevant to our investigation. us about Donald Trump and the Trump Organization, and dismissed it immediately. Attempted today to seek reconsideration of these rulings.”

“While they have the right to appeal, we reserve the right to continue this investigation and seek answers,” the spokesperson said.

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