Trump accountant says a decade of financial statements are unreliable

Trump¹ accountant says a decade of financial statements are unreliable

Transcript²

Donald Trump's longtime accounting³ firm cut off its relationship with him, saying it could no longer stand behind the annual financial documents it had prepared for him.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The longtime accountants for former President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization have quit. The accounting firm Mazars USA says it can no longer stand behind a decade's worth of financial statements that it prepared and signed. The decision could have a major impact on hundreds of millions of dollars in bank loans. And the withdrawal⁴ of support from Mazars USA comes at a precarious⁵ moment for the Trump family business. Joining us to discuss the development is NPR's Andrea Bernstein. Good morning.

ANDREA BERNSTEIN, BYLINE⁶: Good morning.

FADEL: So, Andrea, the accounting firm says, quote, Statements of Financial Condition from "June 30, 2011, to June 30, 2020, should no longer be relied upon," end quote. It adds that the Trump Organization should let anyone who has relied on these statements - should let anyone know who has relied on these statements. So break down what this actually means and what prompted it.

BERNSTEIN: So it sounds kind of dry. But it is a fascinating business divorce. These are longtime accountants of the Trump Organization. And they have been with the Trump Organization through a lot of accusations⁷ of financial hanky-panky. Right now, there are these two big investigations⁹ in New York, including a criminal indictment¹⁰ and a civil case that is being investigated by the New York attorney general, Letitia James. She's looking at whether Trump has lied to lenders and tax authorities about his property value. So it's a pretty dramatic development when the accountants say, everything we said about your Statements of Financial Condition for a decade, those cannot be considered reliable.

FADEL: Wow.

BERNSTEIN: It's not really good footing for the Trump family business, which has already been repeatedly accused of committing different kinds of fraud.

FADEL: So what kind of impact could this have?

BERNSTEIN: So we don't know all of the specifics, who gave what, when, all that chain of custody¹¹. But some interesting details have emerged from the court filings. For example, if you look at the Washington, D.C., hotel, the Trump resort in Doral, the Trump family business has hundreds of millions of dollars of loans from Deutsche Bank that are coming due beginning next year. And now what you have is the Trump accountants saying statements that were presumably given to this lender for it to make its financial decisions - unreliable. Now the bank is going to have to be looking at this as the loans come due. It is really uncharted territory.

FADEL: So what's the Trump Organization saying?

BERNSTEIN: So the accounting firm, in its letter, said that they had not concluded that there were, quote, "material discrepancies¹²" in the accounting statements. And the Trump Organization has leaned into that and said, oh, look; they found nothing wrong. Therefore, both New York investigations should be called off. Now, of course, that is not exactly what the accountant said. But it's a familiar Trump legal tactic¹³ to claim that something vindicates¹⁴ them when it does not.

FADEL: And what's next?

BERNSTEIN: So there's going to be a court hearing later this week over whether Donald Trump, his son, Donald Jr., and his daughter, Ivanka, have to testify in this civil investigation⁸. But with the ongoing¹⁵ civil case and the ongoing grand jury investigation, we are sure to learn a lot more.

FADEL: NPR's Andrea Bernstein. Thank you so much.

BERNSTEIN: Thank you.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

4 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

5 precarious   

adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的

参考例句：

• Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
• He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家，他过得是朝不保夕的生活。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

8 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

9 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

10 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

11 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

12 discrepancies   

n.差异，不符合（之处），不一致（之处）( discrepancy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• wide discrepancies in prices quoted for the work 这项工作的报价出入很大
• When both versions of the story were collated,major discrepancies were found. 在将这个故事的两个版本对照后，找出了主要的不符之处。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。

14 vindicates   

n.澄清（某人/某事物）受到的责难或嫌疑( vindicate的名词复数 )；表明或证明（所争辩的事物）属实、正当、有效等；维护v.澄清（某人/某事物）受到的责难或嫌疑( vindicate的第三人称单数 )；表明或证明（所争辩的事物）属实、正当、有效等；维护

参考例句：

• The success of the operation completely vindicates my faith in the doctor. 手术的成功完全证明我对这大夫的信任是正确的。 来自辞典例句
• In one sense the verdict vindicates the Bush administration. 在某种意义上，有罪宣判证明了布什当局是正确的。 来自互联网

15 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。