Sunday, July 4, 2010

The Wall Street Journal

One interesting example for the "dark web" is the website of the W-S-J
Over there you can find a lot of interesting stuff. For example the article about Trump on Trump the lier:

"It's one of the great mysteries of the business world: How much is Donald Trump really worth?

The world famous real-estate developer and television personality has consistently said it's in the billions. A 2005 book citing anonymous sources said it was between $150 million and $250 million. Mr. Trump sued the writer for defamation. He alleged damage to his reputation that caused him to lose out on future deals in locales from Philadelphia to Kiev.

Donald Trump discussed how he values his net worth in a deposition.
A hearing in that case will take place Monday in a state court in Camden, N.J. As part of the proceedings, the Donald, as he's known to fans and detractors alike, has provided under oath the secrets to how he values his wealth and treasure. In one case, he says, he does "mental projections."

"My net worth fluctuates, and it goes up and down with markets and with attitudes and with feelings, even my own feeling," he told lawyers in the December 2007 deposition.

The deposition, marked "Confidential," comes to light at a time when some of Mr. Trump's projects, including several condominium developments that bear his name, are struggling. Among the problems are anemic sales, lawsuits, sharp declines in value and troubles with creditors.

...
Mr. Trump was asked whether he has ever exaggerated in statements about his properties. "I think everybody does," he said in the deposition. "Who wouldn't?"
A follow-up question: Does that mean he inflates the value of his properties in general, nonfinancial public statements? "Not beyond reason," he said in the testimony.
...
In 2005, Deutsche Bank evaluated his net worth as part of underwriting a $640 million construction loan it made to Mr. Trump's Chicago condo and hotel project. The bank said his worth was $788 million
...
In the deposition, Mr. Trump discussed how he determined the value of a residential development on old rail yards on Manhattan's west side. According to the deposition, when a newsletter reporter writing about the project's 2005 sale for $1.8 billion said Mr. Trump had a "small interest," Mr. Trump wrote him a note. "You're a real loser. Thanks for the nice story. Is 50% small?"
But Mr. Trump had a 30% limited-partnership interest in the project, according to legal documents. A group of Hong Kong investors were the owners

...
Mr. Trump often licenses his name to other developers in return for a fee or a cut of the sales. During the deposition, Mr. O'Brien's lawyer, Andrew Ceresney, noted that Mr. Trump had claimed publicly that he had a major ownership in one such project
...
For example, in a November 2007 Wall Street Journal interview cited by Mr. Ceresney, Mr. Trump said he had sold out units at an eponymous condo-hotel project in Hawaii. "The building is largely owned by me," he said in the interview. But in the deposition, Mr. Ceresney produced the licensing agreement for the project. Mr. Trump wasn't a major equity holder in the project, it showed, a fact Mr. Trump didn't dispute.
..."
(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124261067783429043.html#articleTabs_comments)

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