The New York Attorney General is investigating President Trumpâs private business for allegedly misleading lenders by inflating the value of its assets, the attorney generalâs office said Monday in a legal filing.
In the filing, signed by a deputy to Attorney General Letitia James, the attorney generalâs office said it is investigating Trumpâs use of âStatements of Financial Conditionâ â documents Trump sent to lenders, summarizing his assets and debts.
The filing asks a New York state judge to compel the Trump Organization to provide information it has been withholding from investigators â including a subpoena seeking an interview with the presidentâs son Eric.
The attorney generalâs office said it began investigating after Trumpâs former lawyer and âfixer,â Michael Cohen, told Congress in February 2019 that Trump had used these statements to inflate his net worth to lenders.
The filing said that Eric Trump had been scheduled to be interviewed in the investigation in late July, but abruptly canceled that interview. The filing says that Eric Trump is now refusing to be interviewed, with Eric Trumpâs lawyers saying âwe cannot allow the requested interview to go forward ⦠pursuant to those rights afforded to every individual under the Constitution.â
Many of the details of the investigation were redacted or left out of the filing. But it mentioned valuations of three Trump properties: a Los Angeles golf course, an office building at 40 Wall Street and a country estate called âSeven Springsâ in Westchester County, N.Y.
Last year, The Washington Post reported that Trump had inflated the potential sale value of the Seven Springs property in a âStatement of Financial Conditionâ â a type of document he sent to potential lenders to demonstrate his wealth.
In 2011, Trumpâs statement claimed that the property had been âzoned for nine luxurious homes,â and that the value of those home lots raised the value of the overall property to $261 million â far more than the $20 million assessed by local authorities. Local officials said Trump had received preliminary conceptual approval for those homes, but never completed the process or obtained final zoning permission. The homes were never built.
The court filing also mentions a question about a loan on Trumpâs Chicago Hotel, which one of Trumpâs lenders forgave in 2010. The filing does not say why that forgiven loan is of interest to investigators.
The Trump Organization did not respond to a request for comment on Monday morning. Trump still owns his businesses, though he says he has given day-to-day control over to his sons.
This is not Trumpâs first fight with the New York Attorney General. A previous attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, sued Trump for defrauding students at his âTrump University,â in a case that led Trumpâs school to pay $25 million to settle in 2016.
Later, the Attorney Generalâs office sued Trump for misusing donations in his nonprofit, the Donald J. Trump Foundation, to buy art for his clubs, pay off legal obligations for his businesses and to help his own political campaign. That suit ended last November, with a state judge ordering Trump to pay $2 million in damages.
Vance has subpoenaed the Trump Organizationâs longtime accountants, Mazars USA, for eight years of the presidentâs tax returns and other tax preparation documents. Trump sought to block that subpoena, on the grounds that he was immune to criminal investigation as president. He lost at the Supreme Court, and now his lawyers are fighting an effort to block the subpoena on other grounds.
The scope of Vanceâs investigation remains unclear. It began with an inquiry into payoffs made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels â who said she had an affair with Trump â before the 2016 election. But in recent court filings, Vance has suggested that he may be looking into financial practices at the Trump Organization as well.
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SOURCE: https://www.w24news.com
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