A New York Times article on federal prosecutors' raids of the offices of a lawyer for President Trump, Michael Cohen, reports:
The investigation is being run by Robert S. Khuzami, whose boss, Geoffrey S. Berman, the interim United States attorney in Manhattan, has recused himself. Mr. Khuzami is a veteran federal prosecutor who spoke at the 2004 Republican National Convention in support of President George W. Bush and later led the enforcement division of the Securities and Exchange Commission during the Obama administration.
That is accurate, as far as I can tell. It is also accurate, however, to say that Mr. Khuzami spent from 2002 to 2009 as a top in-house lawyer at Deutsche Bank. That's the same Deutsche Bank that according to financial disclosure forms and news reports is the largest single lender to President Trump, with more than $300 million outstanding. In 2008, while Mr. Khuzami worked at Deutsche Bank, Mr. Trump sued Deutsche Bank over the terms of a loan and its role in the financial crisis, complaining about what the suit called the bank's "predatory lending practices." The bank responded with a personal attack on Trump. As the New York Times reported it at the time:
The bank seized on the opportunity to discuss Mr. Trump's reputation. "Trump is no stranger to overdue debt," it said in asking that his suit be thrown out of court. It noted that Mr. Trump's casino operations have filed for bankruptcy twice, adding, "This suit is classic Trump."
The bank did not discuss why that history did not dissuade it from making the loan. One explanation might be that the fees it got for arranging the loan more than offset the risk from the small part of the loan it kept on its own books.
Mr. Khuzami's boss at the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan, a Trump appointee, has reportedly recused himself. As far as I can tell no one has so far suggested that this 10-year-old conflict would be reason for Mr. Khuzami also to recuse himself, but it is nonetheless worth noticing that this isn't the first rodeo between Mr. Khuzami and Mr. Trump. It's also worth noting that Deutsche Bank has reportedly been subpoenaed as part of the Mueller inquiry. The New York Times reported in July of 2017:
Banking regulators are reviewing hundreds of millions of dollars in loans made to Mr. Trump's businesses through Deutsche Bank's private wealth management unit, which caters to an ultrarich clientele, according to three people briefed on the review who were not authorized to speak publicly. The regulators want to know if the loans might expose the bank to heightened risks.
Separately, Deutsche Bank has been in contact with federal investigators about the Trump accounts, according to two people briefed on the matter. And the bank is expecting to eventually have to provide information to Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel overseeing the federal investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia....
Mr. Trump's wealth manager at Deutsche Bank, Rosemary Vrablic, has specialized in real estate lending and is known for taking risks on clients, two of the executives and wealth managers said. And her relationship with Mr. Trump is close enough that Ms. Vrablic attended Mr. Trump's inauguration, according to a person who attended.
Mr. Kushner has established his own relationship with the bank. He and his mother have an unsecured line of credit from Deutsche Bank, valued at up to $25 million, and the family business he ran until January, Kushner Companies, received a $285 million loan from Deutsche Bank last year.
Mr. Kushner's dealings at the bank have included Ms. Vrablic. In 2013, he ordered up a glowing profile of her in the real estate magazine he owned, The Mortgage Observer, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The piece concluded with a disclaimer that her "past clients" included Mr. Kushner.
