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Michael Cohen Claims Donald Trump Inflated His Net Worth by $4 Billion in Attempt to Buy Buffalo Bills
President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen told Congress that Trump once gave Deutche Bank false documentation which inflated his assets by $4 billion in his bid to get a loan to buy the Buffalo Bills.
Cohen submitted three years of Trump's financial statements as part of his testimony–the same documents that were submitted to the bank with his 2014 loan application.
"I’m giving the Committee three years of President Trump’s financial statements, from 2011-2013, which he gave to Deutsche Bank to inquire about a loan to buy the Buffalo Bills and to Forbes," Cohen said. "It was my experience that Mr. Trump inflated his total assets when it served his purposes."
Trump's total net worth in his application was listed at $4,261,590,000 in 2011, $4,558,680,000 in ’12 and $8,661,970,000 in ’13.
The Bills, who were put up for sale after founder Ralph Wilson died at age 95 in March 2014, were Trump's first bid at an actual NFL franchise. The President was bidding against the likes of Jon Bon Jovi and natural-gas billionaire Terry Pegula, who was named the eventual winner. Pegula also owns the NHL's Buffalo Sabres.
Trump took to Twitter after the announcement to call Pegula's end purchase price of $1.4 billion "ridiculous."
Even though I refused to pay a ridiculous price for the Buffalo Bills, I would have produced a winner. Now that won’t happen.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2014
The people of Buffalo should be happy Terry Pegula got the team but I hope he does better w/the Bills than he has w/the Sabres. Good luck!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2014
2014 was not the first time Trump tried to join NFL's ownership ranks. The President made a failed attempt to to spin his stake in the USFL’s New Jersey Generals into an NFL foothold in the 1980's.
Cohen is testifying in front of Congress after turning on Trump and cooperating with special Robert Mueller's investigation into collusion with Russia. Cohen will begin a three-year prison sentence in May after he pleaded guilty to lying to congress in 2017 and committing campaign finance violations while employed by Trump.
