Why didn't Ivanka Trump? She was on Signature Bank's board of directors
Want a simple test of the management acumen of Signature Bank?
How a Small Bank Became a Go-To Lender to the Trump Family
By
Emily Flitter and
Jesse Drucker
When Michael D. Cohen needed $17 million to buy a Manhattan apartment building in 2015, he went to Signature Bank.
Signature had existed for less than two decades, and compared with some of its New York rivals, it was a small player occupying unglamorous niches.
The bank helped finance Mr. Trump’s Florida golf course. It lent money to Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, and to Mr. Kushner’s father, Charles. It provided Mr. Trump and his business with checking accounts. And Ivanka Trump sat on Signature’s board of directors while the bank was lending to her father and her husband, Mr. Kushner.
New York’s Department of Financial Services this year requested information from Signature about its credit lines to the Kushners, according to people familiar with the requests. They said regulators were reviewing whether Mr. Kushner’s White House role could compromise Signature’s ability to collect on the loans.
That review of Mr. Kushner’s loan documents led the New York regulators to broaden their inquiry, said one person, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the regulator’s activities. The agency is now looking into whether Signature lent money to real estate developers — including the Kushner family’s business, Kushner Companies — knowing they planned to use abusive tactics to push out low-rent tenants and then charge more, according to two people familiar with the review. It is focused on whether Signature’s loans were overly risky and violated laws intended to prevent predatory behavior.
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