James’ lawsuit follows months of efforts by Trump and his three eldest children - Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric Trump - to avoid testifying and turning over business documents. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement that his office's criminal investigation into Trump and his company is "active and ongoing." James said that Trump and his company falsely claimed their statements were prepared in consultation with outside professionals and that the documents blatantly violated “generally accepted accounting principles.” The alleged violations include representing that Trump had cash on hand that he did not, ignoring critical restrictions that would significantly lower property values, changing the methodology for estimating such values from year to year, using different methods for various properties even in the same year and including intangible items in the calculations.Īt a news conference Wednesday, James detailed Trump and his company's alleged violations of state and federal laws by having “repeatedly and persistently manipulated the value of assets to induce banks to lend money” to the organization “on more favorable terms than would otherwise have been available to the company." Weisselberg's lawyer, Nicholas Gravante, declined to comment about the allegations in the lawsuit. ![]() James' office said in a release that Trump made fraudulent and misleading statements “in both their composition and their presentation.” Trump also made it known through Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer, that he wanted his net worth to increase every year, and he used financial statements as a “vehicle” to fraudulently inflate his net worth by billions of dollars annually, her office alleges. The agency doesn’t confirm the existence of investigations until court documents are publicly available.” Special agents review information received for further criminal investigation. “IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) receives tips about potential criminal activity from a variety of sources every day. 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."Ī spokesperson for the IRS’ criminal investigations division declined to comment specifically on James' criminal referral comments but said in a statement to NBC News: "Donald Trump stands out as among the most egregious examples of this misconduct. “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. In addition, her office is sending a criminal referral to the IRS and U.S. She is also seeking about $250 million in penalties. Weisselberg has taken a plea deal confessing his guilt to all 15 charges against him, which will result in a five-month prison sentence, while the Trump Organization will face a trial in October for its alleged crimes.James is seeking to permanently bar the Trump family from serving as officers of New York-based companies and prevent Trump and his company from entering into commercial real estate acquisitions in the state for five years. ![]() Trump himself has not yet faced any consequences in that investigation, but the Trump Organization and its longtime Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg were indicted in July 2021 for alleged tax fraud. ![]() The AG’s office is working in cooperation with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, which has also been conducting a criminal probe of the Trump Organization since July 2019. The investigation is looking into whether the Trump Organization fraudulently inflated or deflated the value of its assets on financial statements for personal gain, which the AG’s office revealed in January it had found “significant” evidence of. James’ office has been conducting a civil probe into the Trump Organization and its financial dealings since March 2019, which expanded to include a separate criminal investigation in May 2021. The potential financial consequences could go as far as a court ordering the dissolution of the Trump Organization, though the Times notes that James has said in interviews she doesn’t want to go that far. Any lawsuit filed against Trump or his children will be civil rather than criminal, meaning they would pay financial penalties rather than face criminal charges or prison time.
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