NEW YORK _ Big isn't big enough for President Donald Trump, who is under scrutiny for exaggerating the size of some of his real estate and other assets.
Trump drew up financial statements years ago that added 10 extra stories to his namesake Midtown skyscraper and 800 extra acres to his Virginia winery _ inconsistencies that could be illegal if he used the documents to enrich himself, according to legal experts.
The 20-page statements _ which were obtained by the New York Daily News on Thursday _ are from 2011 and 2012 and list Trump's various assets, alleged net worth and liabilities.
However, the statements also contain a handful of falsehoods that border on the bizarre.
Both documents claim Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue has 68 stories. But the gold-plated skyscraper _ which the statements describe as a "symbol of quality and success" _ is actually 58 stories.
The 2011 statement says Trump's winery outside Charlottesville, Va., stands on 1,100 acres of land, which is slightly less than the roughly 1,200 acres it actually has.
However, the statement from the following year inexplicably claims the Virginia vineyard has 2,000 acres.
The statements also drastically inflate the value of Trump's Westchester County golf course and excludes information about other major Trump properties that had hefty loans attached to them, as first reported by The Washington Post.
A Trump Organization spokeswoman did not return a request for comment on the inconsistencies.
Michael Cohen, Trump's ex-lawyer, testified before Congress last month that the president overvalued his assets and concealed liability information in statements to banks and other financial institutions in order to more easily secure loans _ which could amount to fraud.
"I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is," Cohen said before the House Oversight Committee on Feb. 27. "He is a conman. He is a cheat."
Cohen's allegations prompted at least two New York state agencies to open investigations into Trump's business dealings.
Acting on Cohen's testimony, the New York Department of Financial Services subpoenaed records from the Trump Organization's insurance broker Aon earlier this month.
A source familiar with that investigation told The News on Thursday that inconsistencies like the ones in the 2011 and 2012 statements go to the heart of the department's inquiry into whether Trump submitted false information to lower his insurance premiums.
New York Attorney General Tish James opened a separate investigation into Trump's business dealings and subpoenaed records from Deutsche Bank _ which also got false statements from Trump, according to Cohen's testimony.
A spokeswoman for James declined to comment.
Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor in Illinois specializing in white collar crimes, said it would be illegal for Trump to knowingly provide a financial institution with materially false information, such as incorrect building heights and property acreages.
However, Mariotti stressed that prosecutors would have to prove intent for there to actually be a case.
"The question is did he personally, knowingly make that lie?" Mariotti said. "If it can be proven that he knowingly made a false statement that would be a federal crime."
