(New York) New York Attorney General Letitia James recently subpoenaed former President Donald Trump and two of his children, demanding their testimony as part of a civilian investigation into the family’s business practices, according to court documents released on Monday.
The subpoenas for Mr. Trump, Donald Jr. and Ivanka Trump stem from an investigation “into the valuation of properties owned or controlled” by Mr. Trump and his company, the Trump Organization, according to the filing.
PHOTO EVAN VUCCI, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., during their father Donald Trump’s address to an election rally at the Kenosha Regional Airport, Wisconsin on Monday, November 2, 2020.
Messages requesting comment were left with lawyers for former President Trump and the attorney general’s office.
The latter’s attempt to obtain the testimony of the former president was publicly revealed in December, but the filing of the lawsuit on Monday was the first public disclosure of investigators’ interest in speaking with Ivanka and Donald Jr..
Another legal battle
The Trumps are expected to file a rebuttal in an attempt to overturn the subpoenas, setting the stage for a similar legal battle to the one that took place last year after Mr.me James has subpoenaed another Trump son, Eric.
PHOTO MARY ALTAFFER, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
Donald Trump, then the Republican presidential candidate, with his daughter Ivanka, left, and his son Eric, in the background, left, during a press conference on May 3, 2016, in New York City.
The prosecutor’s office then went to court to enforce a subpoena against him, and a judge forced him to testify.
The former president sued the prosecutor last month, seeking to end the investigation after she asked him to appear for a deposition on January 7. Mr. Trump’s lawsuit, filed in federal court, alleges the investigation violated his constitutional rights in a “thinly veiled effort to publicly slander Trump and his associates.”
Letitia James, a Democrat, has spent more than two years investigating whether the Trump Organization has misled banks or tax officials about the value of its assets – by inflating them for favorable loan terms or by minimizing them to achieve tax savings.
Although the civil investigation is separate from a criminal investigation conducted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Mr.me James was involved in both investigations.
Tax evasion charges
Earlier this year, former District Attorney Cyrus Vance gained access to the real estate mogul’s tax records after a years-long fight that twice went to the United States Supreme Court. Before stepping down at the end of last year, Mr Vance called a new grand jury to hear evidence, as he considered whether he should add more charges. These moves culminated in tax evasion charges in July against the Trump Organization and its longtime CFO Allen Weisselberg.
The two investigations are linked in part to allegations made in news reports and by Mr. Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, that the businessman had a habit of distorting the value of his assets.
M’s officeme James has also issued subpoenas to local governments as part of the civil investigation into the files relating to a Mr. Trump property in upper Manhattan called Seven Springs and a tax benefit Trump received for placing a land in a conservation trust.
The attorney general also looked into similar issues regarding an office building in New York, a hotel in Chicago and a golf course near Los Angeles. Her office has also won a series of court rulings forcing the Trump Organization and a law firm she hired to hand over numerous documents to her.