NY AG Coming for Trump: She Has Very Hard Evidence of Trump's Deceit, Fraud, and Tax Evasion

It’s you Mr. Trump and I'm coming full bear

Is Donald J. Trump a savvy, smart, professional, great property wheeler and dealer, and super tax legal expert (as he always claims); or, is he merely a slick, shrewd, clever con artist, snake oil salesman, and fraud?

The answer is easily proven: He is a slick skilled con artist and this latest story shows that is based on a helluva lot of his past criminal and illegal activities that are well-documented in the public domain.

Long before Donald J. Trump and his namesake “Trump Organization” became so powerful, that same Donald J. Trump, for example, calculated the value of his rent-stabilized units at more than $49.5 million — when the value was more than 66 times higher than the $750,000 that which an outside appraiser believed they were worth.

The latest comes from the New York State AG, Letitia James, in this story from Law & Crime with this headline:

“Trump Organization Valued Rent-Stabilized Units More Than 66 Times Higher Than an Outside Appraiser Did: Says NY AG”

A bit more:

AG James made that allegation in an eye-popping footnote of an appellate brief seeking to uphold a judge’s order Trump and two of his adult children (Donald Jr., and Ivanka) to sit for depositions in the AG’s longstanding tax probe. The civil investigation, which has been running in tandem with a criminal one, has been looking into whether the Trump Organization fraudulently valued the company’s assets for tax benefits.

The appellate brief filed in state court begins with this: “So far, the investigation has uncovered significant evidence potentially indicating that, for more than a decade, these financial statements relied on misleading asset valuations and other misrepresentations to secure economic benefits—including loans, insurance coverage, and tax deductions — on terms more favorable than the true facts warranted. The allegation about the rent-stabilized units reflects the significant time span of the investigation. It is based on the Trump Organization’s statements between the years 2010 and 2012. Serious Lapses in the Trump Organization’s Document Preservation.”

Events thus far:

1. In 2019, the AG’s civil investigation began with congressional testimony by Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen and about him “cooking the books.”

2. Also in 2019, the Manhattan AG Cyrus Vance, began his criminal investigation.

3. Years later, the two worlds collided as AG James’s team started assisting DA Vance, who charged the Trump Organization and its former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg in July 2020.

4. The criminal investigation appears to have stalemated under the stewardship of Vance’s successor Alvin Bragg who recently saw two of his top prosecutors resign over his reported reluctance to charge Trump with any crimes.

5. From this appellate brief, AG James’s civil investigation appears to be hurtling at full speed. She reported interviewing with more than 40 Trump Organization witnesses, including Weisselberg, general counsel Alan Garten, controller Jeffrey McConney, and the organization's vice president Eric Trump, who BTW invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in response to more than 500 questions.

Allen Weisselberg goes to court for his scheduling hearing on September 20, 2021.

The AG says: “…it has received and reviewed hundreds of thousands of documents produced by the Trump Organization, despite what it describes as serious lapses in the Trump Organization’s document preservation and production and its compliance was placed under judicial supervision.”

Many of its findings to date have been well-publicized.

For example, between 2012 and 2016, the Trump Organization’s statements indicated that the former president’s triplex in Trump Towers exceeded 30,000 square feet, giving it that apartment a $327 million value.

The brief notes: “In 2017, however, the Statement slashed the apartment’s value by two-thirds, sizing the residence at just under 11,000 square feet—the figure specified in the building’s offering plan.”

AG James previously alleged that the company did not assign a value to the Trump brand and may have used “fraudulent or misleading asset valuations on six properties to obtain economic benefits.”

Trump’s attorney Alina Habba did not immediately respond to Law & Crime’s email requesting comment.

Full article continues here.

My 2 Cents: Hopefully the new Manhattan DA, Alvin Bragg will come back on board where Cyrus Vance left off and rejoin AG James pursuing a criminal case against Trump as Vance and those two prosecutors who recently resigned all agreed was apparent and obvious against Trump.

By all accounts and indications Trump and his family are seriously guilty. Now, he needs to be held accountable for one simple long-standing judicial premise: “No one is above the law.”

He must not be allowed skate on these serious charges as he has on so many other serious issues in the past, or simply paid people off, or counter-sued and chased them away from the issue at hand. More later I am sure. 

Thanks for stopping by.