US

New York AG Sues Trump For Allegedly Fudging Asset Values

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New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a lawsuit Wednesday against former President Donald Trump, his three oldest children, the Trump Organization and two associates after investigating for three years.

James charged Donald Trump with falsely inflating his net worth by billions of dollars “to unjustly enrich himself and to cheat the system,” assisted by his children Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric, former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg and its controller Jeffrey McConney. She said Trump and the organization often manipulated asset values to convince banks into granting more favorable loans, pay lower taxes, satisfy loan agreements and secure better insurance deals.

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James expressed belief that the alleged conduct violates federal and state criminal law. She called for the court to forever ban Trump, Don Jr., Eric and Ivanka from being an officer or director of any New York-registered or licensed corporation and prohibit the former president and the Trump Organization from entering into any acquisition or applying for loans from any financial institution statewide for five years.

“In fact, the very foundation of his purported net worth is rooted in incredible fraud and illegality,” James said of the former president. “Mr. Trump thought he could get away with the art of the steal, but today, that conduct ends.”

The New York AG’s probe reviewed millions of document pages and conducted dozens of witness interviews, purportedly finding fraud involving over 23 of Trump and the organization’s properties and other assets, according to a press releasefrom her office. Weisselberg pleaded not guilty last month to 15 counts including grand larceny, tax fraud and falsifying business records, and agreed to five years in prison and five years on probation for testifying at the Trump organization’s trial, NPR reported.

“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’s lawyer Alina Habba said. “It is abundantly clear that the Attorney General’s Office has exceeded its statutory authority by prying into transactions where absolutely no wrongdoing has taken place. 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.”