US President Donald Trump’s tax record shows that he had failed to pay more than $270 million in debt since 2010 for a skyscraper development in Chicago, The New York Times said in a report on Tuesday. However, this was forgiven by the lenders, the report added.

The media organisation carried out a detailed study of the case, where it was revealed that big banks and hedge funds granted Trump a huge slack after Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago faced financial issues. They allowed him several additional years to repay the loan, much of which was forgiven ultimately.

The 74-year-old also appears to have managed not to pay federal taxes on the unreported forgiven roles, which would otherwise fetch a huge bill, the report said. It added that this was partially due to his losses in other businesses.

Alan Garten, the chief legal officer of Trump Organization, told The New York Times that the business tycoon had paid all the required taxes on forgiven loans.

“These were all arm’s length transactions that were voluntarily entered into between sophisticated parties many years ago in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis and the resulting collapse of the real estate markets,” the Times quoted Garten as saying.

“I was able to make an appropriately great deal with the numerous lenders on a large and very beautiful tower. Doesn’t that make me a smart guy rather than a bad guy,” Trump tweeted on Wednesday, reacting to the issue.

According to the report, Trump and two of his LLCs went to the Deutsche Bank to borrow a major portion of the money required to build his Chicago estate, and $640 million was approved by the bank.

ALSO READ | ‘Fake news media’ bringing up taxes just like Election 2016: Donald Trump on $750 report

However, at a time when part of construction of the building was still unfinished, Trump was faced with the due date of the loan. Following this, the Deutsche Bank agreed to provide Trump and extension to repay his debts but he could not repay it this time as well and asked for further extensions. 

This time, the bank, along with Fortress Investment Group, which had granted an additional $130 million loan for the project, and other banks and hedge funds denied an extension following which Trump sued them.

Following this, Deutsche and Trump agreed on a private settlement in 2010, terms of which were not disclosed, according to the report. But the news organisation obtained a document and his federal tax income records which show that an amount of $270 million debt was forgiven.

The New York Times report comes days ahead of the November 3 elections, following another report which suggested that the US President paid just $750 in federal income taxes since 2000.