Deutsche Bank’s internal review has focused, at least in part, on a Park Avenue apartment that Ms. Vrablic, Mr. Scalzi and another Deutsche Bank colleague purchased for about $1.5 million from a company called Bergel 715 Associates in June 2013. Mr. Kushner held an ownership stake in that company at the time.
Business & Economy
Banks usually bar employees from doing personal business with clients because of the potential for conflicts of interest.
After being contacted by The New York Times in August, Deutsche Bank officials started reviewing the transaction “and the fact pattern from 2013,” Mr. Hunter, the bank spokesman, said at the time.
The status and scope of that review, which may include other transactions, is not clear, but Deutsche Bank officials previously said they hoped it would be completed by the end of the year.
At the time of the real estate transaction, Ms. Vrablic was rapidly expanding Deutsche Bank’s relationship with the Trumps and the Kushners. It was Mr. Kushner who, in 2011, invited Ms. Vrablic to Trump Tower in Manhattan to meet his father-in-law, who was radioactive to most large banks.
Ms. Vrablic and her boss championed the Trump relationship. But it was polarizing inside the bank. Some senior executives argued it was too risky to lend to Mr. Trump, given his history of not repaying loans, including in 2008 when he defaulted on a large loan from Deutsche Bank on his Chicago skyscraper. Those concerns, however, were overruled, and the relationship with Mr. Trump progressed.
As they sought more loans, Mr. Trump and his representatives provided Deutsche Bank with financial statements that appeared to substantially overstate the value of some of his company’s real estate and other assets, according to current and former bank executives, as well as congressional testimony last year from Mr. Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.