Mario Tama is pictured.
Donald Trump told reporters it was love at first sight when he announced plans to build a golf complex on sand dunes. He said there was no question about it when he saw it. It would be the world's greatest golf course.
The case that looks poised to dominate his post-presidential life, and could even put him behind bars, became a central element of Trump International Scotland this week.
Fishermen denounced Trump as a loudmouth bully during the construction of the course. The site was stripped of its protected status after environmentalists warned that the development would destroy the natural habitat.
This didn't distract Trump from his goal. The Scottish complex has a five-star hotel and helicopter landing pad, and is a bargain membership at just over $2,500 a year.
The property has done wonders for its owner over the past fifteen years. If you measure success according to Donald Trump's accounting style, that is.
The site at Menie was purchased for $12.6m. It was valued by the Trump Organization in its financial statements at $161m, an increase of almost 13 times.
The Scottish holding was put up to $436m by the end of the year.
The hike caught the attention of Letitia James, New York state's progressive attorney general, known for her relentless pursuit of the rich and powerful. One of the things she is investigating is how the Scottish property rose in value so quickly.
Donald J Trump and the Trump Organization may have misrepresented the values of multiple assets to financial institutions for economic benefit. Richard Drew.
In a new filing released this week designed to pressure Trump and two of his children into facing questioning, James forensically unpacks how such large valuations came about. Her investigators discovered that the estimate for the Scottish property included an estimated £75,000 for undeveloped land at the site.
They discovered that the figure was created for an article in Forbes magazine. The revelation prompted a line in this week's filing that must be among the worst in US financial history.
James writes that the valuation of Trump Aberdeen used for Mr Trump's financial statement was prepared for the purpose of giving information to Forbes magazine.
James has a legal document that is full of juicy tidbits. The value of the Scottish golf club was based on the projected sale price of 2,500 houses on the land, even though none of the houses actually existed and the company had planning permission for only half that number.
The Seven Springs Estate was bought by the Trump Organization in 1995 for $7.5m. By the year 2004, it was worth $80m and by the year 2014, it was $291m. James notes in a reference that the value of the seven non-existent mansions included in the figure was $161m.
The most exciting aspect of the whole thing is the fact that Trump lived in the Fifth Avenue temple before moving into the White House. The apartment in the Trump Tower triplex in New York was listed at $327 million in 2015, but James was not sure if it was true.
The property is 11,000 sq feet and has a value of $117m. That is an overstatement in Trump's financial statements.
Donald Trump's business was accused of misrepresenting the value of his assets by the New York Attorney General. Justin Lane/EPA.
In her 114-page filing, James insists that such startling differences matter. The financial statements that contained them were used to reduce Trump's tax burden, as well as to secure loans from banks and insurance.
James said after the filing was lodged in a New York court that they have uncovered evidence that suggests Donald J Trump and the Trump Organization misrepresented the values of multiple assets to financial institutions for economic benefit.
Some close observers of Trumpland are now convinced that he is in serious legal trouble because of the new material disclosed by James. Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal attorney and an ex-vice president of the Trump Organization, told the Guardian that the House of Trump is crumbling.
Cohen, who was released from house arrest in November, had legal troubles of his own. His testimony to the House oversight committee in February of this year sounded the alarm over the inflated evaluations in Trump's financial statements, which prompted James to open her investigation the following month.
Cohen said that his testimony before the committee as well as his cooperation with the New York attorney general has led to this day. Individuals who have escaped responsibility for their actions are being held accountable.
James is pursuing a civil case, which means that if she were to prove that Trump was to blame, he would have to pay a lot of fines and penalties. James is working with the Manhattan district attorney, who has a large and highly experienced team of investigators.
Bragg is asking the same questions as James: did the Trump Organization commit accounting, bank, tax or insurance fraud? Bragg's investigation is criminal, threatening Trump with prison time.
Timothy O'Brien said that Trump could end up in an orange jumpsuit at the end of the election.
O'Brien has a stake in the story. The real estate developer sued O'Brien for billions of dollars because of his book TrumpNation, which raised doubts about Trump's wealth in eerily similar terms to the James and Bragg investigations today.
Trump was deposed as part of his defense. They got a celebrity to acknowledge 30 times that he had lied over the course of two days.
When he sat down for the deposition, my lawyers had documentary evidence that showed the reality of what he had lied about. O'Brien said that they pushed those over the table.
The value of his golf clubs, real estate assets in New York, and many of the misleading elements were almost identical to the details contained in this week's filing. O'Brien feels confident in saying that the patterns that James outlines in her court document extend far back.
O'Brien said that Trump has been engaging with this behavior since he was a toddler.
In 2009, the libel suit was dismissed. The author was surprised that no prosecutor showed any interest despite the large amount of detail he had exposed.
There was a lot of fodder in my book, but nobody picked it up. It was too late for law enforcement to take Donald Trump seriously.
The times have changed. Trump is no longer a real estate magnate, but a former US president. With the scrutiny, the stakes have increased significantly.
Both civil and criminal charges may be pending against Trump, who has never before been confronted by two coordinated teams of sophisticated investigators raking through his financial affairs.
The prosecutors are serious about getting their man, according to a single sentence in James's new filing. She writes that the investigative team is determined to find out if Mr Trump knew about the numerous misstatements and omissions made by him or on his behalf.
James is thinking along civil lines. She is anticipating criminal charges in which proof of intent is required.
The investigations are politically motivated and Trump and his children refuse to testify. Eric, who runs the day-to-day work of the Trump Organization, was deposed but pleaded the fifth more than 500 times.
The family hopes that the prosecutors will not be able to meet the high bar set for criminal cases. Robert Mintz is a former federal prosecutor.
The criminal case is more dangerous because of the possibility of imprisonment. Mintz told the Guardian that it is difficult to prove criminal intent in complex financial frauds.
Prosecutors will have to prove that Trump violated the law. It's not enough to show discrepancies in financial statements.
Large investigations are difficult to prove without the help of witnesses and documentation. It is difficult to predict how these parallel investigations will end.
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