New York Attorney General Tisha James has accused former US President Donald Trump’s company of inflating the value of his assets and publishing a false report of his personal fortune in presentations to lenders, insurance agents and other players in his real estate empire – according to a report In the Washington Post. James, who belongs to the Democratic Party, is leading a civilian investigation into Trump and his business. She detailed the allegations in a new petition filed in court on Tuesday that joined her request to allow her to collect sworn testimony from the former president and his adult children.
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In a 160-page petition, James lists many examples in which Trump signed financial statements that valued the value of the company’s assets and the value of his personal fortune; However, according to James and her team, these assessments have been misleading, and in fact are at the heart of the legal action being taken against the company.
“Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump were all involved in the deals in question, so we will not agree to their attempts to evade testifying in this investigation,” James said in a statement. She claims that this evidence is necessary to advance an investigation based on some 900,000 documents taken from Trump’s company offices, interviews with employees and other evidence.
The documents were submitted to the court in response to a petition by Trump to revoke the orders given to him and his children demanding that they testify under oath and pass on relevant documents. Marik Trump, who also holds a senior position at the company, testified in late 2020.
Trump and his children’s attorney, Alan Potreps, argued in response that the orders violated the rights of the family, against which a criminal investigation is also underway on behalf of the Manhattan District Attorney. Trump’s lawyers also claim that James is influenced by her political views. Potreps said the documents filed Tuesday “did not meet the basic reservations we noted in our petition for revocation of the orders.”
James’ investigation into the Trump group’s business conduct has been going on for more than two years. Her team scanned thousands of financial documents passed by Trump’s accounting firm, Mazers, for the years 2004-2020, and found apparent discrepancies between the real terms of the assets and statements about them in the documents.
According to documents filed by James yesterday, Trump’s company provided statements to banks and insurance companies that included incorrect or misleading information about the Seven Springs estate in Westchester County, New York, his triplex at Trump Tower, his golf site in Scotland and his Westchester Golf Club, Tower Trump on Park Avenue in Manhattan and his office building on Wall Street.
James further claims that Trump’s company passed incorrect information to the IRS regarding his golf club in Los Angeles and Seven Springs. The accusation is that outside lawyers, appraisers and engineers helped generate millions of dollars in tax savings for Trump by incorrectly describing the assets in tax return statements. Investigators also linked Trump directly to some of the failures, showing for example that he signed a letter to the bank in which they described the value of his brand, but James claims he was wrong.
Meanwhile, Trump and his family are stepping up attacks against James. At a political rally in Arizona on Saturday, Trump showed a video of James calling him an “illegitimate president.” Earlier, Eric Trump appeared on Sean Hennett’s show on Fox, claiming that James’ investigation was “illegal” and “incorrect.” “This is something that is expected to happen in Russia, something that is expected to happen in Venezuela. It is a matter of third world countries,” he said.
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