President Donald Trump's longtime personal banker Rosemary Vrablic has resigned from Deutsche Bank, the German bank said on Tuesday. Vrablic, who was managing director at the bank, and was Trump's personal banker for almost a decade, tendered her resignation effective as of year-end, which was accepted by the bank, Deutsche Bank spokesman Dan Hunter said in an e-mailed statement.
Besides, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner's personal banker Dominic Scalzi who worked at the Deutsche Bank also tendered his resignation on the same day. The move comes as the Germen lender looks for ways to sever its relations with the outgoing President. Vrablic's business deals involving the President in recent times became the subject of multiple investigations.
End of a Long Journey
The news of Vrablic's resignation was first reported by the New York Times, which mentioned that she along with her colleague Scalzi arranged for bank to grant hundreds of millions of dollars of loans to Trump's company. In a statement Tuesday, Vrablic, 60, said she was "looking forward" to her retirement.
Vrablic, who along with Scalzi joined Deutsche Bank in 2006 from Bank of America, is one of its most successful private bankers. She took on Trump as a client in 2011. In fact, Kushner played a key role in introducing her to Trump.
That also marked the beginning of a trusted relationship. Until then Trump had a troubled relationship with the bank, having defaulted on a $640 million loan in 2008. Thing started changing with the entry of Vrablic, who became a trusted contact to the Trump Organization and Kushner and assumed the bank's lending relationship with Trump in the private side of the bank after the commercial lending division stopped doing business with Trump.
Not a Happy Ending
Vrablic over the years played key role in help Trump Organization secure loans from Deutsche Bank. The bank has lent Trump nearly $330 million in loans which are set to come due in 2023 and 2024. Trump provided a personal guarantee to obtain the loans, allowing the bank to pursue his personal assets if they are not paid back.
However, Vrablic and Scalzi have been accused lately of arranging loans for Trump by unethical means. Vrablic and Scalzi's resignation are perhaps an effect of an internal investigation launched by the bank in August into her $1.5 million purchase along with two colleagues in 2013 of a New York City apartment from a company partially owned by Kushner.
The Trump Organization is also under investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney's office and New York Attorney General and both the agencies reportedly interviewed the banks employees last month for the probe into whether the Trump Organization mislead Deutsche Bank by inflating the value of some of its assets.
Vrablic has direct knowledge of Trump's relationship with the bank given that she handled his account for years. Needless to say, the bank may have forced Vrablic and Scalzi to tender their resignations in a move that could be the first step in cutting of ties with Trump and his businesses.
