The stories you want. The opinions that matter.
No, thanks
Tag: bank fraud
New York Attorney General Sues Trump, Adult Children For Massive Fraud

New York Attorney General Sues Trump, Adult Children For Massive Fraud

By Karen Freifeld, Jonathan Stempel and Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Donald Trump and his adult children were sued for "numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation" on Wednesday by New York state's attorney general in a civil investigation into the former U.S. president's business practices, court records showed.

The lawsuit, filed in a New York state court in Manhattan, accused the Trump Organization of wrongdoing in preparing Trump's annual statements of financial condition from 2011 to 2021. It also named the Trump Organization, the former president's son Donald Trump Jr,. and his daughter Ivanka Trump as defendants.

Attorney General Letitia James said Trump and the Trump Organization misstated the values of its real estate properties to obtain favorable loans and tax benefits. She said she was referring allegations of criminal wrongdoing to federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the Internal Revenue Service.

"With the help of his children and senior executives at the Trump Organization, Donald Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself and cheat the system," James said in a statement.

The lawsuit marks one of the biggest legal blows for Trump since he left office in January 2021. Trump is considering running again for president in 2024.

James told reporters she is seeking to have the defendants give up all the benefits he obtained from fraud, estimated at $250 million. The lawsuit also seeks to bar Trump and his children from running companies in New York, and to bar the Trump Organization from engaging in real estate transactions. James has been conducting a civil investigation into Trump's business practices for more than three years.

The Republican former president has denied any wrongdoing and described James' probe as a politically motivated witch hunt. James is a Democrat. The Trump Organization has called James' allegations "baseless."

Wednesday's lawsuit followed a contentious investigation in which James accused Trump, his company, and some family members of using delay tactics to ignore subpoenas and avoid testifying.

Trump on August 10 declined to answer questions in a lengthy, closed-door deposition at the office of the attorney general, invoking his constitutional right against self-incrimination more than 400 times.

Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump agreed to sit for depositions only after court decisions required it.

Another of Trump's children, Eric Trump, invoked the right against self-incrimination more than 500 times in a 2020 deposition.

Trump has been beset with legal troubles since leaving the White House.

The FBI conducted a search of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Aug. 8 as part of a criminal investigation into his handling of presidential records including classified material.

Trump also faces a criminal investigation in Georgia over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

He has denied wrongdoing in the various probes.

James' civil probe is separate from a criminal tax fraud probe against the Trump Organization by Manhattan's district attorney, Alvin Bragg.

The company is scheduled to stand trial in October, accused of paying off-the-books benefits to employees. Its former longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, has pleaded guilty and will testify against the company.

James is assisting Bragg in his criminal probe.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel, Karen Freifeld and Luc Cohen in New York; editing by Will Dunham and Alistair Bell)

Trump, Ivanka And Don Jr. Must Testify In Financial Probe, Judge Rules

Trump, Ivanka And Don Jr. Must Testify In Financial Probe, Judge Rules

Donald Trump and his two oldest children, Don Jr. and Ivanka Trump, must appear for questioning under oath in the New York attorney general’s civil investigation into their family firm's financial conduct, a Manhattan judge ruled today. Lawyers for the Trumps had argued against the subpoenas issued by New York State Attorney General Letitia James, accusing her of acting improperly as a criminal prosecutor and of partisan animus against them. But Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron ruled in favor of the attorney general, requiring the former president and his children to testify.

The Trumps must surrender subpoenaed documents within two weeks and appear for depositions within three weeks, the judge ruled, although the response could be delayed on appeal.

Swatting down the arguments of Trump's lawyers, the judge wrote that failure to subpoena him and his children in an investigation of the Trump Organization's bizarre finances "would have been a dereliction of duty" by James.

Both the New York attorney general and the Manhattan district attorney are investigating allegations that Trump manipulated the stated value of his properties in order to obtain loans and avoid taxes.

Before the judge ruled, he presided over a circus-like hearing that featured an astonishing performance by Trump attorney Alina Habba.

“I want to know,” Habba, in court, asked the NY Attorney General, “are you gonna go after Hillary Clinton for what she’s doing to my client?” Habba continued, “That she spied at Trump Tower in your state...Are you gonna look into her business dealings?”

This made a poor impression on Judge Engoron.

“The Clintons are not before me,” the judge replied.

Habba also told the judge that James had undertaken a “selective prosecution,” -- as Law & Crime News managing editor Adam Klasfeld reports.

“It’s unconstitutional,” she claimed. The judge swiftly issued his sweeping ruling against the Trumps.

Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank Turned Over Trump's Financial Records To Manhattan District Attorney

Deutsche Bank, the German financial powerhouse that loaned hundreds of millions of dollars to the Trump Organization when other banks shunned that company, has turned over records of its transactions subpoenaed by the Manhattan District Attorney's office, according to the New York Times.

District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., has sought the president's personal and corporate tax records in court, without revealing much about the alleged crimes under investigation, although he is know to be looking into hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

Vance's prosecutors justified the extensive demand for Trump's records before a judge in New York state Supreme Court last Monday by citing reports of "extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Truomp Organization.".

On Wednesday, the Times reported that Vance's office had subpoenaed the German bank in 2019, indicating that his probe was examining allegations far beyond the payoffs to Daniels and McDougal. The Times also noted the confirmation of the prosecutor's long-rumored interest in Trump's dealings with Deutsche Bank.

The bank responded to the subpoena by handing over documents used by Trump when he applied for loans, according to unnamed sources cited by the Times.

In June, Trump's lawyers claimed that the subpoena for his tax returns was overly broad and politically motivated. But on Monday, Vance's lawyers replied that the Trump team was operating under "the false premise" that the investigation is limited to the hush-money payments. Instead, they noted that when the subpoena was issued "there were public allegations of possible criminal activity at plaintiff's New York county-based Trump Organization dating back over a decade."

"These reports describe transactions involving individual and corporate actors based in New York county, but whose conduct at times extended beyond New York's borders," said the court filing. "This possible criminal activity occurred within the applicable statutes of limitations, particularly if the transactions involved a continuing pattern of conduct."

The Times also reported on Wednesday that the Deutsche Bank subpoena demanded documents that might prove possible fraud by Trump and his company. Its story contrasted the bank's cooperation with other efforts to obtain Trump's financial records that were stymied in court.

At least two Congressional committees, both chaired by Democrats, have subpoenaed Deutsche Bank for documents related to Trump, who sued to prevent their release. New York Attorney General Letitia James likewise subpoenaed the bank for Trump's records last year. Trump has denounced Vance's investigation as "a continuation of the witch hunt".

Legal Experts Deride ‘Lenient’ 47-Month Sentence For Manafort

Legal Experts Deride ‘Lenient’ 47-Month Sentence For Manafort

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Despite a federal guideline recommending a sentence of between 19 and 24 years of imprisonment for Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chair, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III issued a surprisingly light sentence  Thursday of just under four years, stunning many observers.

Ellis had been consistently hostile to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team throughout the case, even as he repeatedly found that the prosecutors’ legal arguments had merit. He once suggested that Mueller’s team didn’t really care about Manafort’s crimes but only wanted to use him to get to Trump.

Prosecutors had argued in their sentencing memo that there was scant reason to go easy on Manafort. He continued to commit crimes even after being indicted, he lied to investigators during a cooperation agreement, and he showed no remorse for his crimes. The judge himself even noted that when Manafort addressed the court Thursday, he didn’t express any regret for his crimes. Nevertheless, Ellis said that aside from his crimes, Manafort has led an “otherwise blameless life” and that he had a good relationship with others. This is flatly false — Manafort made a career out of supporting brutal dictators.

Many legal experts noted that Ellis’ sentence seemed wildly out of touch with typical practice: