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The New York state attorney general filed a tax evasion lawsuit against Donald Trump on Wednesday in relation to the activities of his real estate group. The former American president denies any embezzlement and denounces a “witch hunt”.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James on Wednesday (September 21) announced civil lawsuits against Donald Trump and several of his children in the investigation into the tax practices of his group, the Trump Organization, reinforcing the pressure of justice on the former Republican president.
The prosecutor, an elected Democrat who has led the judiciary against the billionaire for years, said he was seeking $250 million in settlements 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, “proves that Donald Trump falsely inflated his net worth (of his assets) by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself and to deceive the system, as well as all of us,” he said. stated. insured.
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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 lower taxes” or “to encourage insurance companies to provide coverage insurance for higher ceilings and lower premiums”.
Accordingly, it also calls for a “ban” on Donald Trump or the Trump Organization “from engaging in any commercial real estate acquisition in New York State or borrowing from any financial institution.” The Trump Organization includes buildings, luxury hotels, golf courses and entertainment venues.
“Political” activities.
The investigation was opened in March 2019 after explosive testimony to Congress in Washington by one of Donald Trump’s former personal lawyers, Michael Cohen, reporting on his fraudulent valuations, both up and down.
On Donald Trump’s social network, Truth Social, his spokeswoman Liz Harrington denounced “political” lawsuits by Democrats.
“They have 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,” he said . “These people are DISTURBED. President Trump didn’t inflate his holdings, he underestimated them,” he said.
These lawsuits against Donald Trump are in addition to several investigations already underway around the former president (2017-2021). One of these, in his presidential files, led to a spectacular August 8 FBI search of his residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
In this case, a federal court on Wednesday ruled in favor of the Justice Department, authorizing it to access part of the documents recovered from Donald Trump’s property, namely the hundred that bear the mention “classified”. A setback for the former president who obtained the appointment of an independent expert to examine the thousands of documents seized by the federal police, which until then prevented federal investigators from examining them.
The billionaire, who openly plans to run for president in 2024, is also being investigated over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election he lost to Joe Biden and his role in the violent assault on his supporters against the Capitol on Jan. 6. 2021. He is not currently being prosecuted in any of these other cases.
With the AFP
