Doubts raised over Trump ‘ profits’
● Discrepancies between audited accounts and US president’s claims
Questions have been asked over the finances of Donald Trump’s lossmaking Scottish golf resorts, after he told US authorities they generate £ 17 million a year when the latest accounts show their collective turnover was just £ 11.6m.
The US president’ s latest financial disclosure, submitted to the US Office of Government Ethics, suggests Trump Turnberr y and Trump International Golf Links – which are running up combined losses of £19 m–are lucrative parts of his global property portfolio.
The filing claims Turn berry’ s annual income rose by more than £5.7 ml a st year to£15.04m. But Companies House records covering 2016 show Golf Recreation Scotland Limited, Turn berry’ s parent company, incurred losses of £ 17.6m, with turnover of £ 9m.
The up turn in reported profit sat Turn berry bucks the trend across Mr Trump’s golf courses. Out of 17 golf companies listed on his filing, 14 incurred losses on the previous year.
Although Mr Trump’s Scottish resorts have yet to turn a profit under his ownership, he values Turnberry and Trump International Golf Links at more than £ 74m.
Mr Trump also claimsDT Connect Europe Limited, which provides Sikorsky helicopter transfers between his courses, is worth as much as£3mwi than income of up to £740,000. Yet audited accounts show it has equity of £316,000, with £1 mo wed to creditors. Its profit and loss accounts were not disclosed.
John Norris, senior fellow at the Centre for American Progress, a Washington- based progressive advocacy group, said :“It remains possible this is a simple matter of not being a true apples to apples accounting comparison or an innocent mistake. That said, again and again we have seen Trump disclosures that are error- ridden, deliberately obfuscatory, and incomplete.
“Trump has failed to address mounting financial conflicts that have called into question everything from his trade negotiating tactics to his choice of legal counsel, and it seems increasingly obvious that he views his presidency first and fore - most as a vehicle for personal enrichment.”
In 2016, the American Democracy Legal Fund, political ethics watchdog, urged the US Department of Justice to investigate the books of his Scottish firms after flagging up “suspect” financial disclosures.
Amanda Miller, a spokeswoman for the Trump Organisation, declined to explain how it had arrived at the income and valuation of Mr Trump’ s Scottish properties.