The Independent View: Trump Scottish Golf Resorts Problems

Trump has inflating his Scottish Golf Resorts’ Value By $165 Million, per UK Filings. But the President told British Authorities the Properties are a Combined $65 Million in the Red. His U.S. Disclosures say they’re Worth at least $100 Million.

President Trump having filed Financial Disclosure Statements that appear to Misstate the Value and Profitability of his Scotland Golf Courses by $165 Million, is a Possibly Violating Federal Laws that are Punishable by Jail Time.

Trump claimed in his 2018 U.S. Filing that his Turnberry and Aberdeen Resorts were each worth more than $50 Million. For that same time period, he Filed Balance Sheets with the United Kingdom Government showing that their combined Debt Exceeded their Assets by 47.9 Million British Pounds, the equivalent of $64.8 Million at the Exchange Rate on Dec. 31st, 2017, the Date of the last U.K. Filing available.

His 2018 “Public Financial Disclosure” Filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) also Claims those Two Resorts earned him “Income” of $23.8 Million. His Filings with the U.K. Companies House Office in Edinburgh for that period showed the Resorts had Lost 4.6 Million Pounds, Equal to $6.3 Million.

His U.S. Disclosure Statement also Fails to mention $199.5 Million in Loans Trump has made to those Resorts: $54.9 Million from him Personally to Trump International, Scotland in Aberdeenshire; $144.6 Million from his Trust to Trump Turnberry in Ayrshire.

Knowingly providing False or Incomplete information on that Form is a Violation of the Ethics in Government Act Punishable by up to a Year in Jail. Signing the Form attesting to the Untrue Information Constitutes making a False Statement, Punishable by up to Five Years in Prison.

“The numbers don’t appear to add up,” said Virginia Canter, an Ethics Law Expert with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. She added, though, that OGE Regulations give Filers a Fair amount of Latitude in determining Asset Value. “That said, it’s not at all clear after reviewing the U.K. balance sheet for Aberdeen how they came to $50 million. … I think it raises legitimate questions.”

The False and Missing Information on his 2018 Filing has been False and Missing on Trump’s Forms repeatedly, since before he even took Office.

On May 16th, 2016, for example, then-Candidate Trump also Claimed on his Financial Disclosure Forms that the Two Scotland Resorts were worth more than $100 Million, even though he Filed Papers with Companies House on Dec. 31st, 2015, acknowledging that the Courses had a Combined value of Negative $32.1 Million.

U.S. Filings also included Erroneous Information regarding Trump’s Doonbeg Resort in Ireland, which similarly Requires Annual Disclosures from Privately held Companies. In 2015, 2016, and 2017, Trump told the Irish Government that the Course had Lost Millions of Dollars, $7.2 Million in all. In that Same period, Trump Claimed on his American Financial Disclosures that the Course had provided him Tens of Millions of Dollars in Income, totaling $37.4 Million.

Trump’s Golf Courses in Scotland and Ireland offer Unique Insights into the State of Trump’s Businesses because they are Required to Submit Detailed Financial Documents Annually, even though they are Privately held. In the U.S., where the Vast Majority of Trump’s Businesses are located, there is No such Disclosure Requirement, meaning there is No straightforward way of determining whether Trump has similarly Misstated the Asset Value and Profitability of his U.S. Properties.

Americans would have a Clearer understanding of the Actual Financial Health of Trump’s Businesses had he kept his Initial Promise to Release his Tax Returns if he ran for President. But Trump Reneged on that Pledge almost Immediately after entering the Race. At First he Claimed he would Release the Returns after “Routine Audits” had been Completed, before eventually arguing that Americans had Voted for him anyway and that they were Not Interested in seeing his Taxes. In doing so, he became the First Major-Party Nominee since Watergate to Fail to Disclose his Returns.

Trump’s supposed Great Wealth was a Major Selling Point for him during his Campaign in the Republican Primaries. Weeks after entering the Race in June 2015, Trump Declared in a Press Release that his Net Worth was “in excess of TEN BILLION DOLLARS.” In a recent Speech, he Claimed the Presidency was forcing him to Lose Billions: “It’s probably costing me from three to five billion,” he told Workers at a Petrochemical Plant in Western Pennsylvania last week. “I don’t care. I want to do the right job.”

In the 2005 book TrumpNation, Business Journalist Timothy L. O’Brien wrote that Trump was most likely Worth No more than $250 Million, not the many Billions of Dollars he was Claiming at the time. Trump Sued him for Defamation, Lost, and in the Process Lied Dozens of Times about his Business Dealings in a Deposition taken by O’Brien’s Lawyers.

In 2015, National Journal found that Trump had made so many Poor Business Decisions over the years that had he simply taken the Fortune his Father gave him in 1974 and put it into a Broad Index Fund, he would have been far Wealthier than now.

The Disclosures in Europe saved him Taxes and in the U.S. gave him Bigger Bank Loans with Inflated Collateral Values.