(New York) The accounting firm that prepared Donald Trump’s annual tax returns says that these documents, used to obtain large loans and reinforce his image as a wealthy businessman, “should no longer be used as justification” after the Attorney General of New York State said that the value of the assets was regularly distorted.
Posted at 7:37 p.m.
In a letter to the lawyer representing the Trump Organization, dated February 9, Mazars USA LLP advises the company to advise any third parties who have received these financial reports not to take them into account when assessing their health. financial institution and the former president.
The letter came weeks after New York Attorney General Letitia James revealed her team had uncovered evidence Mr Trump and his company had used ‘fraudulent and misleading’ appraisals of the value of his golf clubs. , its skyscrapers and other properties in order to extract loans and obtain tax advantages.
In his letter, Mazars’ legal counsel, William J. Kelly, told his counterpart at the Trump Organization, Alan Garten, that it would be “appropriate” to cease using any financial statements prepared by the firm until that a document compliance review is completed.
Mr. Kelly maintains that Mazars performed its work “according to professional standards”, but that these statements can no longer be considered reliable due to the revelations of the prosecutor as well as the firm’s own internal investigation.
Additionally, Mazars said it would no longer work with Mr. Trump and his company due to a conflict of interest.
Findings that tax filings are unreliable apply to reports written between 2011 and 2020. The 2021 filing was made by another firm.
A copy of the letter in question was filed in court on Monday by the prosecutor’s office as she seeks a subpoena to testify against Donald Trump and his two oldest children in a civil investigation. .
State Judge Arthur Engoron is scheduled to hear arguments from the parties in the case on Thursday.
The Manhattan District Attorney is also conducting a criminal investigation into the practices of Trump companies.
Donald Trump has given his financial statements, which present an annual portrait of his assets, to banks so that they can grant him loans against the value of his properties. Loans amounting to several hundred million dollars.
These same financial statements were given to financial magazines to justify its presence in the charts of the richest personalities.
For its part, the Trump Organization continues to affirm that the financial reports produced by Mazars have been made according to the rules of the art and that they contain no anomalies.