New York Attorney General Letitia James sued former President Trump, his three oldest children, Eric, Donald Jr, and Ivanka, and his organization for financial misdealings.
According to the lawsuit, Trump-owned businesses fraudulently took loans and enjoyed tax benefits by falsely overstating the values of their properties, including homes and golf courses.
Now, the Democratic Attorney General is seeking for the Manhattan Supreme Court to impose restrictions on Trump’s ability to do business in New York, as well as hindering the former president from buying any commercial property in NY for the next five years.
NY Attorney General Goes Partisan
In a news conference, James noted Trump falsely inflated the values of his properties, which made him look rich and enjoy the tax benefits specifically given to ultrarich people.
Likewise, James quoted words from Trump’s 1987 book, which stated that if someone claims to have money that they do not possess in reality, it is counted as a steal.
So, James continued, Trump remained involved in multiple criminal activities, including bank fraud, issuing false financial records, and insurance fraud.
The lawsuit also accused the former CFO of Trump’s organization, Allen Weisselberg, of helping the former president prepare false financial statements from 2011 to 2021.
Today, I filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump for engaging in years of financial fraud to enrich himself, his family, and the Trump Organization.
There aren't two sets of laws for people in this nation: former presidents must be held to the same standards as everyday Americans.
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) September 21, 2022
Trump Overvalued His Properties to get Bigger Loans
Furthermore, James claimed Trump and other defendants of the lawsuit used a variety of tricks to get an undue benefit of almost $250 million, with the help of more than 200 false financial statements.
Every false financial statement was personally verified by either Trump or his trustees, James added.
The newly filed civil suit stated Trump’s tampered business records show he made billions of dollars when he did not make any such money with his business. By making these false claims, Trump was able to apply for loans with higher limits.
Our suit against Donald Trump and the Trump Org alleges a years-long financial fraud scheme.
Here’s how Trump generated false and misleading values on his annual financial statements, which were then used to pay lower taxes, guarantee loans, and get better insurance rates:
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) September 21, 2022
For instance, Trump stated the value of his 40 Wall Street property was $530 million in 2013, but the property was only worth $230 million at that time, the court papers mentioned.
In addition to that, Trump’s Tower has an area of approximately 11,000 square ft, but his property documents showed the edifice was built on 30,000 square feet of land.
This exaggeration helped Trump increase the paper value of his property, as per the New York Attorney General.
James’ lawsuit also established the real value of Trump’s 12 apartments at Trump Park Avenue was almost $750,000 in total, but property documents showed the apartments had a net worth of $50 million.
Meanwhile, Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, dismissed any possibility of financial wrongdoing by the former president.
Habba claimed James’ lawsuit is not based in reality, but is only showing political biases of a liberal attorney general. She was optimistic the court will not entertain any baseless claims of a partisan attorney general.
This article appeared in The State Today and has been published here with permission.
