New York State Attorney General Letitia James on Wednesday announced civil lawsuits against Donald Trump and several of his children in the investigation into the tax practices of his group, the Trump Organization, adding to pressure from the justice on the former Republican president.
The prosecutor, an elected Democrat who has been waging the judiciary for years against the billionaire, said she is seeking $250 million in reparations on behalf of New York State, as well as corporate bans for Donald Trump and his children Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump.
The lawsuit, filed in the New York State Supreme Court, “demonstrates that Donald Trump falsely inflated the net worth (of his assets) by billions of dollars to enrich himself unjustly and to deceive the system, as well as all of us, ”she assured.
According to her, asset values have been “repeatedly and persistently manipulated” to “encourage banks to lend money to the Trump Organization on more favorable terms”, “to pay less tax” or “to encourage insurance companies to provide insurance coverage for higher limits and at lower premiums”.
As a result, she also calls for “prohibition” for Donald Trump or the Trump Organization “to engage in any acquisition of commercial real estate in the State of New York or to request loans from any financial institution”. The Trump Organization includes buildings, luxury hotels, golf courses and entertainment venues.
Opponent “number one”
The investigation was opened in March 2019 after the explosive testimony in Congress in Washington by one of Donald Trump’s former personal lawyers, Michael Cohen, reporting on his fraudulent assessments, either up or down.
On Donald Trump’s social network, Truth Social, his spokesperson Liz Harrington denounced “political” lawsuits from the Democrats.
“They turned New York City into a third world country. They release violent criminals onto the streets, and use all their energy to go after a successful, law-abiding businessman, who is their number one political opponent,” she charged.
“These people are DISTURBED. President Trump did not inflate his holdings, he underestimated them,” she said.
These lawsuits against Donald Trump are in addition to several investigations already underway around the former president (2017-2021), including one on his presidential archives which led to a spectacular search by the FBI, on August 8, in his residence. Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
The billionaire, who openly plans to run for president in 2024, is also under investigation into his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election lost to Joe Biden and his role in the violent assault on his supporters. against the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
He is not currently being prosecuted in any of these other cases.