Trump gave Deutsche Bank salesmen a trip to Mar-a-Lago and then defaulted on their bonds

Associated Press

• Trump allegedly received around $2 billion in loans from Deutsche Bank during their two-decade history, according to The New York Times.
• Trump's business practices are drawing more scrutiny amid investigations into the relationship between the president and the bank.
• Here is a list of the highlights.

The New York Times just reported an explosive piece about Donald Trump's history with Deutsche Bank, saying that over the course of their relationship the German bank lent around $2 billion to the former real-estate mogul.

The president's association with the struggling German lender was born in the late 1990s, when major Wall Street firms would no longer loan Trump money following a series of disastrous ventures such as the Trump Shuttle and Trump's Atlantic City casinos.

Read more: New report claims Trump received around $2 billion in loans from Deutsche Bank

Trump's long and winding history with Deutsche Bank could now be at the center of Robert Mueller's investigation into interference in the 2016 presidential election, and the ties are also being investigated by the New York Attorney General's office.

Some of the highlights from The Times:

• Deutsche Bank cumulatively loaned Donald Trump more than $2 billion over two decades when he was in real estate, according to a new report from The New York Times. He reportedly owes the bank about $360 million, currently.

• Trump made promises to the reluctant Deutsche bond salesmen tasked with raising buyers for Trump's bonds. Trump reportedly said: "If you get this done, you'll all be my guests at Mar-a-Lago," his private club in Florida. Trump flew about 15 salesmen to the resort on his private plane. A year later, in 2004, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts defaulted on the bonds.

• He filed a lawsuit against the bank in 2008, days before part of a loan used to build Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago was due, claiming the financial collapse that year was an act of God.

• Trump borrowed money from one part of the Deutsche Bank to pay off a loan from another, in what the Times called "an extraordinary act of financial chutzpah."

• "Deutsche Bank's leaders repeatedly saw red flags surrounding Mr. Trump," the Times said.

• Bracing for more scrutiny after Trump won the election, the Times said Deutsche Bank ordered employees: "Do not publicly utter the word 'Trump.'"
• Trump inflated his net worth on several occasions. He once said he was worth around $3 billion, but the bank said it was more like $788 million - yet Deutsche Bank continued to work with him.
• Trump continued to get loans from the bank as recently as 2015, when a $170 million loan was underwritten for the transformation of the Old Post Office building in Washington.

The New York Times piece adds to other explosive details about the links between Trump and Deutsche Bank in recent years:

• Prior to Trump's election, the Washington Post reported that he owed roughly $360 million to the bank, with about $125 million in two mortgages for one of the president's major Florida golf courses, Trump National Doral.
• Deutsche Bank has come under fire for inadequate due diligence on its clients, after the bank's involvement in both the Danske Bank and Troika Laundromat money laundering scandals.
• Deutsche Bank, the biggest bank in Germany, was, according to Bloomberg, worried about chasing $340 million in loans from a sitting president so considered rewriting the terms.
• It has been a rough time for Deutsche Bank: The share price has tumbled dramatically in recent months after its offices were raided and it missed its fourth-quarter revenue targets.

Kerrie McHugh, a Deutsche Bank spokeswoman, told the New York Times: "We remain committed to cooperating with authorized investigations." The New York Times also said that The White House referred questions to the Trump Organization. A company spokeswoman, Amanda Miller, declined to comment to the New York Times.

Deutsche Bank did not immediately respond to Business Insider requests for comment.

Sarah Gray contributed reporting to this article.