Harpooning a tycoon: Bank exec tells N.Y. trial of ‘whale hunting’ for Trump business
A Deutsche Bank executive testified in Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial that she tried to harpoon the real estate tycoon, financially speaking, according to reports.
Managing director Rosemary Vrablic detailed her efforts to secure a deal with a “very high net-worth individual,” the former President, the Messenger reports.
“She knew from the outset that Trump was a big catch,” said MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin on X, “telling two colleagues in an email that they were ‘whale hunting.’”
Law360 reporter Stewart Bishop notes Trump’s defense rests on proving Deutsche Bank “was falling over itself to do business with Trump, who repaid his loans with interest and no major issues.”
Meanwhile New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the $250 million fraud lawsuit against Trump and his two sons, argues the bank would have earned more had executives known Trump was worth millions less than first appeared, Bishop reports.
Vrablic said her relationship with the Trump family began with a call from Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner about Doral, a South Florida golf course, the Messenger reports.
Ivanka Trump followed up with an email on Dec. 6, 2011 that included an attached investment memo and the message, “My father and I are very much looking forward to meeting with you tomorrow to discuss Doral.”
Deutsche Bank would ultimately become the Trump Organization’s biggest lender, flushing hundreds of millions of dollars into several assets that included Doral, the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C. and the Trump Chicago skyscraper, according to the report.
Vrablic was pushed out of her job in 2020 after an internal investigation found she didn’t properly disclose business with a client, a company with ties to Kushner, the New York Times reported at the time.
Trump has denied wrongdoing in the case, but judge Arthur Engoron has already found Trump liable for damages to be determined in court.