New York AG James Sues Trump, Family and Company Over Alleged Fraud Scheme
AG James alleges Donald Trump, his children and his Organization were engaged in a decades-long fraud scheme, inflating Trump's assets to enrich themselves financially. Source: "Donald J. Trump at Marriott Marquis NYC September 7th 2016" by Michael Vadon is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a sweeping lawsuit on September 21 against former President Donald Trump, his three eldest children and the Trump Organization after a years-long investigation into their financial dealings, alleging “repeated and persistent” acts of fraud.
The over 200-page civil suit alleges that Trump, along with his children and senior executives at the Trump Organization, submitted years of fraudulent financial statements, lied to lenders and insurers and falsely inflated his properties by billions of dollars in order to achieve various financial benefits. The suit remarks that the number of grossly inflated asset values is “staggering,” and that Trump acted “egregiously” in inflating the market value of his real estate holdings in New York state and in Florida.
The attorney general alleges more than a decade of deception in inflating Trump’ personal networth to win favorable terms from banks and insurance companies. The suit details more than 200 instances of fraud over 10 years.
“For too long, powerful, wealthy people in this country have operated as if the rules do not apply to them," James said in a statement. "Donald Trump stands out as among the most egregious examples of this misconduct. With the help of his children and senior executives at the Trump Organization, Donald Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself and cheat the system."
James’ office asks the New York Supreme Court to permanently bar the former President, along with Donald Trump, Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump from serving as officers of New York-based companies. In addition, the office asked to prevent Trump and his company from entering into commercial real estate acquisitions in the state for five years. The suit also seeks to recover $250 million in allegedly illegal profits gained through the family’s fraudulent practices.
The suit also targets Allen Weisselberg, who served as the Trump Organization's chief financial officer.
“These acts of fraud and misrepresentation were similar in nature, were committed by upper management at the Trump Organization as part of a common endeavor for each annual Statement, and were approved at the highest levels of the Trump Organization – including by Mr. Trump himself,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit is filed in civil court, but James said she has also referred possible violations of federal law to the U.S. Justice Department and the IRS.
“This investigation revealed that Trump engaged in years of illegal conduct to inflate his net worth, to deceive banks and the people of the great state of New York,” James said in a press conference. “Claiming you have money that you do not have does not amount to the art of the deal. It’s the art of the steal.”
Trump, his family and his associates have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and denounced the suit as “political.” On his social media site Truth Social, Trump wrote, “Another Witch Hunt by a racist Attorney General, Letitia James,” adding, “she is a fraud who campaigned on a “get Trump” platform.”
The former president’s legal team and Trump Organization representatives reiterated that the suit is an attempted political smear, pointing to statements James made during her campaign in which she promised to investigate him.
“Today’s filing is neither focused on the facts nor the law — rather, it is solely focused on advancing the Attorney General’s political agenda,” Trump attorney Alina Habba said in a statement. “We are confident that our judicial system will not stand for this unchecked abuse of authority, and we look forward to defending our client against each and every one of the Attorney General’s meritless claims.”
The attorney general’s suit follows a three-and-a-half year investigation sparked after Trump’s former attorey, Michael Cohen, testified to Congress that Trump routinely inflated his assets to obtain favorable tax benefits.
James’ suit is the latest in a series of legal actions against Trump, and a separate criminal trial against Trump's firm and Weisselberg, brought by Manhattan's district attorney Alvin L. Bragg is scheduled to begin next month.