New York Attorney General Letitia James Found ‘Substantial Evidence’ Of Trump Organization Fraud

New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a court late Thursday night to force Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump to testify under oath, saying her office’s investigation into the Trump Organization had uncovered “substantial evidence” of fraud.

James said in a tweet, “We have discovered significant evidence indicating that Trump Organization used fraudulent and misleading asset valuations on a variety of properties to obtain economic benefits, including loans, insurance, and tax deductions for many years. ”

“Donald J. Trump, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr… assert that they may have ignored a legal subpoena for sworn testimony because of what they argue was ‘an unprecedented act and unconstitutional’ of the Office of the Attorney General (OAG)” motion states. “But subpoenas against current and former top company officials — such as those in question here — are common practice in complex and warranted financial investigations. here”.

Court documents note that for more than a year — and since Eric Trump testified in August 2020 — AG’s office found substantial evidence that the Trump Organization used intentional mispricing of assets “to obtain a variety of economic benefits, including loans, insurance and tax deductions.”

Eric Trump invoked the Fifth Amendment “several times” to avoid testifying about the valuations of many of the Trump Organization’s assets, according to the memo.

Prosecutors note that while their office has not made a final decision on whether this evidence warrants any legal action, their grounds are “for proceeding with the investigation.” investigation is irreproachable”.

“This game must be over,” AG’s office said in its court filing, which asked a judge to force Trump and his two adult children to testify, as well as force the company to hand over the missing important documents.

The filing states that the investigation into the Trump Organization began in March 2019, when former Trump attorney Michael Cohen testified before Congress. In his testimony, Cohen said Trump’s fiscal states every year inflated the value of the former president’s estate to get concessional loans and insurance — while devaluing some assets. his other to reduce property taxes.

“OAG has methodically investigated those allegations; indeed, the Trump Organization provided material and substantial corroborating findings in response to subpoenas issued by OAG in connection with their civil investigation, without ever challenging OAG’s goodwill. ,” the motion states.

For more than two years, the Trump Organization has known about the attorney general’s investigation into alleged misconduct and insists its executives are cooperating, according to the filing. In fact, the move says, the organization has pulled on its heels and only recently started handing over many of the documents that were requested via subpoena in December 2019.

The memo details multiple schemes that allegedly inflated Trump’s net worth, including one in which the former president valued his own apartment in Trump Tower at $327 million,” said on an apartment of 30,000 square feet multiplied by a certain price per square foot.” But in 2017, the apartment shrunk in actual size for the first time to just over 10,000 square feet, and its value dropped relative to $116.8 million.

When asked about this, the CFO of the Trump Organization Allen Weisselberg admits that the figure amounts to $200 million in an exaggeration, “give or take.”

Court filings provide details of the Trump Organization’s allegedly misleading and misleading statements about the value of at least six properties, including Trump golf clubs in Scotland and Westchester, and some of the company’s iconic buildings, including Trump Park Avenue and 40 Wall Street.

AG’s office argued that the Trump Organization misrepresented the value of all these assets to the IRS, lenders and other insurers with “inflated” financial statements as part of the the pattern to suggest that Mr. Trump’s net worth is higher than it’s worth has emerged.”

In addition to the former chairman’s alleged misconduct, the filing also paints a better picture of the previously obscure roles his two adult children played within the company. For example, Ivanka Trump is renting an apartment on Trump Park Avenue as if it were valued at $8.5 million, the memo records. However, in Trump’s financial statements, the apartment is worth $25 million.

Ivanka “was a key player in many of the company’s transactions and” may request access to summaries and financial projections of properties or businesses in the Trump Organization’s portfolio, “according to the memo and is also a key employee in its relationship with Deutsche Bank.

Donald Trump Jr., who joined the family company in 2001, is also crucial to the organization’s financial performance.

“Furthermore, evidence obtained by OAG confirms that Donald Trump, Jr. is involved in a number of Trump Organization assets valued on Mr. Trump’s Statement of Financial Status, including 40 Wall Street , and have been consulted regarding matters contained in the Statement of Financial Conditions,” the memo states.

The attorney general’s office announced it received more than 5 million pages of evidence from the company that showed Trump lied about the most trivial of things: the amount of cash available for a deal, the use of so-called ” outside experts” to assess the property’s value, and even the actual size of the Trump Tower penthouse. In some cases, investigators say, they discovered that the Trump Organization had inflated the value of a property simply because it was in his name – even though financial documents had specify that it is not allowed.

But as investigators attempt to get hold of Trump’s handwritten documents — such as Post-it Notes — that would reveal his involvement in the alleged shady valuations, the AG’s office alleges that The company simply won’t turn them over.

The filing says that the Trump Organization’s top lawyer, Alan Garten, insists that the boss is not closely related to that extent — even though company controller Jeffrey McConney has sworn to investigators that Trump often will sit down to review the property’s value with chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg.

Previously, a source with direct knowledge of the company’s inner workings told The Daily Beast that the Trump Organization has an annual ceremony in it. Trump and Weisselberg will review the company’s finances keep it private and fill in the blanks as they see fit. (Weisselberg and company have was prosecuted last summer on tax fraud allegations in a parallel criminal investigation being run by the Manhattan district attorney with the help of AG.)

In a final footnote to the court filing, AG’s office also revealed that the Trump Organization’s reluctance to cooperate was so severe that the company was forced to hire an outside company to oversee the search for the files. electronic profile. Back in September, a New York state judge warned the company that it will have to transfer documents and top lieutenants will have to testify.