New Reports Raise Concern that Deutsche Bank Willfully Misled Van Hollen on Oversight of Relationship with Trump

Today, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen raised serious concerns following the NY Times reporting that Deutsche Bank ignored warnings about suspicious activity from accounts tied to President Trump and Jared Kushner. In 2017, Senator Van Hollen wrote to Deutsche Bank with concerns about their relationship with the President, and they told the Senator, “The Bank recognizes the heightened sensitivity of managing relationships with clients who hold public office or perform public functions in the U.S., and has, accordingly, taken steps to ensure that its policies, processes and controls address the potential for conflicts of interest and the safeguarding of the integrity of the decision-making process with respect to such clients.”

“If the NY Times reporting is accurate, Deutsche Bank willfully misled me when I raised these concerns two years ago. They had the specialists in place to look out for illicit activity – but when the staff raised the alarm and pushed for it to be reported, Bank executives ignored them. That is a far cry from having the proper controls in place – and it’s potentially illegal,” said Senator Van Hollen. “I’ll be pressing this issue at tomorrow’s Banking Committee hearing with financial regulators, and I once again call on the Committee to do a thorough, bipartisan investigation into Deutsche Bank.”

Since last year, Senators Van Hollen and Warren have been pushing for a hearing and an investigation by the Senate Banking Committee. This news only underscores the urgent need for this action.

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