NY Regulators Subpoena Documents From Trump Organization’s Insurance Broker

New York state regulators have subpoenaed documents from the Trump Organization’s insurance broker, following testimony from President Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen that Trump exaggerated his wealth in order to lower his insurance premiums.

A spokeswoman for Aon PLC, President Trump’s London-based broker, confirmed Tuesday that her company had received a subpoena from New York’s Department of Financial Services. That department regulates insurance and banking in the state. The Trump Organization is headquartered in Manhattan.

“As is our policy, we intend to cooperate with all regulatory bodies,” Aon spokeswoman Donna Mirandola wrote in an email. She declined to answer further questions: “We do not comment on specific client matters.”

The Trump Organization declined to comment Tuesday.

The subpoena was first reported Tuesday by The New York Times. The Times said the subpoena is nine pages long, and asks for copies of all communications between Aon and Trump or the Trump Organization, as well as internal documents in which Aon employees discuss Trump.

The Department of Financial Services did not respond to requests for comment. Two people familiar with the subpoena said the Times’s description was accurate.

That department can refer cases of insurance fraud to other agencies for prosecution, according to its website.

The scope of the inquiry and the department’s focus is unclear.

Last week, in his testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Cohen described how Trump sent exaggerated statements of his wealth – called “Statements of Financial Condition” – to journalists, potential lenders, and insurers.

Cohen said these statements contained inflated statistics about the value of Trump’s assets. For instance, if Trump wanted to pump up the value of an office building, he would simply multiply its actual rent receipts “by a multiple – and you make up the multiple,” Cohen testified.

In other cases, according to copies of the statements obtained by The Washington Post, President Trump exaggerated his wealth by leaving things out. In 2011 and 2012, for instance, the Statements of Financial Condition omitted his hotel in Chicago, which was carrying a high debt load. The likely result: Trump’s overall debt seemed smaller.

“When we were dealing … with insurance companies, we would provide them with these copies so that they would understand that the premium, which is based sometimes upon the individual’s capabilities to pay, would be reduced,” Cohen testified.

“And all of this was done at the president’s direction and with his knowledge?” asked Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Mo.

“Yes,” Cohen said.