Trump May Add More Assets to $500M Lawsuit

NEW YORK CITY-At least one major developer claims that the tax assessor’s bribery scandal is taking an escalating toll in cold, hard cash. Donald Trump, who last week sued the city for $500 million in damages for lost apartment sales at Trump World Tower, tells GlobeSt.com that his organization is expanding the net and exploring potential losses at other properties as well.

“We’re looking at the other assessments,” he states, “and we’ll make a determination in the next three or four weeks about adding” buildings to the suit. But Trump stopped short of naming specific addresses. So far, the suit seeks to claim damages on the “ridiculously high” assessments at Trump’s 72-story World Tower. “I was forced to sell those apartments with an artificially high tax on those units because the city didn’t negotiate the tax to what it should have been due to the scandal. And there was nobody left to cut the assessments because they were all in jail.” Trump says the 376-unit East Side tower is currently 81% sold out.

The developer’s claim is that assessors hiked taxes at his property–forcing his prices up–in order to compensate for illegal breaks they gave other building owners around town. According to published records, assessors took some $10 million in bribes to lower assessments on a variety of city assets. Earlier this year, some 15 people pleaded guilty to the charges.