POLITICO’s reporting on President Trump and the Bank of ChinaPolitico, Apr 27, 2020, 11:53 PM EDT, Editorial Staff
POLITICO published an article Friday morning on President Donald Trump’s business dealings with China. (“Trump owes tens of millions to the Bank of China – and the loan is due soon.â€) Since then, new reporting and information have led us to update and correct the article after publication.
The article cited a nearly $1 billion refinancing deal from several banks, including the Bank of China, struck in 2012 with a New York City real estate venture in which the Trump Organization has a substantial minority interest. We reported that President Trump, through the Trump Organization, owes the Chinese state-owned bank tens of millions of dollars on a loan that comes due in 2022.
This assertion, which was referenced in the headline as well as the story, was based on public documents related to the deal as well as property records. We sought comment from the Vornado Realty Trust, the primary investor, which didn’t respond to our request before publication. The White House and the Trump Organization declined to comment on the record after being told what we intended to report.
On Friday evening, POLITICO received a statement from a representative for Bank of China USA, which had not been contacted beforehand, that the bank had sold off, or securitized, its debt shortly after the 2012 deal. A spokeswoman said the bank has no current financial interest in any Trump Organization properties. We updated the body of the article to take account of the bank’s statement. The original headline was changed to “Trump owed tens of millions to the Bank of China.â€
There remained an unresolved discrepancy. A 2017 document filed by the loan servicer, Wells Fargo, with the New York Department of Finance listed Bank of China as having a financial interest in the building, 1290 Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan. That record, known as a UCC3, indicated that Bank of China had a “secured†interest in the building’s fixtures in case of default on the loan. The 2017 document is valid until 2022, when the loan comes due.
POLITICO attempted to reach other parties to the refinancing throughout the weekend and Monday. Wells Fargo on Monday confirmed the Bank of China’s statement that it had been listed as a creditor on the building in error. Bank of China said Wells Fargo is taking steps to correct the record with an updated filing.
Consequently, the story was updated a second time on Monday evening to take account of the apparent mistake in the public record.
Our commitment at POLITICO is to journalism that gets its facts straight. We regret we fell short in this case.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/27/politicos-reporting-on-president-trump-and-the-bank-of-china-214107
