New York State Attorney General Letitia James filed a sweeping lawsuit on Friday against former United States President Donald Trump, three of his adult children, and their family business; the Trump Organization.
The Democratic attorney general alleged that the Trumps were involved in an expansive fraud lasting over a decade that the Republican businessman used to enrich himself even more. James alleged in the more than 200-page lawsuit that fraud touched all aspects of the Trump business, including its properties and golf courses.
Lawsuit Against Trump
The lawsuit states that the Trump Organization deceived lenders, insurers, and tax authorities by inflating the value of his properties using misleading appraisals. During a news conference in New York, James said, "This conduct cannot be brushed aside and dismissed as some sort of good-faith mistake."
The New York attorney general said that the statements of financial condition were greatly exaggerated, grossly inflated, objectively false, and therefore fraudulent and illegal. James added that as a result, they were seeking relief, arguing that Trump, his family, and his business, should be held accountable, as per CNN.
The lawsuit names Trump and his children, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Ivanka Trump, as defendants in the case. The former CFO for the Trump Organization, Allen Weisselberg, and a longtime company executive, Jeff McConney, were also named in James' lawsuit.
The New York attorney general said that she believes state and criminal laws may have been violated and referred the matter to the US attorney's office for the Southern District of New York and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
According to BBC, James' lawsuit comes after a three-year civil investigation that looked into the Trump Organization's dealings. The New York attorney general's office does not have the power to file criminal charges against the former president.
Fraudulent Financial Statements
The lawsuit alleges that Trump and his business lied "by billions" about the value of the real estate in order to get loans and pay less tax. Prosecutors added that the Trump Organization committed numerous acts of fraud between 2011 and 2021.
However, the former president dismissed the lawsuit and considered it as "another witch hunt" among the legal challenges that he is currently facing. In a statement, James said that Trump's own apartment in Trump Tower, which was valued at $327 million, was among the properties whose values were allegedly misrepresented.
The lawsuit alleges that over the course of a decade, Trump and his family made more than 200 false or misleading valuations on financial statements. Each statement was personally certified as accurate by the former president, his son, Trump Jr., or Weisselberg.
James' lawsuit is seeking at least $250 million from the Trump family in damages, saying that her office conducted more than 65 witness interviews and reviewed millions of pages of documents as part of its investigation.
One of Trump's attorneys, Alina Habba, said, "Today's filing is neither focused on the facts nor the law - rather, it is solely focused on advancing the Attorney General's political agenda" against the former president, Yahoo News reported.
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