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New York Attorney General Aims To Depose Trump On January 7 In Civil Probe

New York Attorney General Aims To Depose Trump On January 7 In Civil Probe

Reprinted with permission from DailyKos

New York Attorney General Letitia James is reportedly angling to depose Donald Trump on Jan. 7 in relation to her office's ongoing civil probe of whether the Trump Organization committed financial fraud, according to TheWashington Post.

No one close to the matter was willing to go on record about it—not Trump’s spokespeople, not Trump's attorney, and not James' office—which makes her intentions seem all the more real.

James, who on Thursday unexpectedly dropped out of New York's gubernatorial race, had pledged to target Trump in her bid last year to become the state's top law enforcement officer. Both she and the Manhattan district attorney have been investigating whether Trump's family business illegally manipulated property values to both garner lower taxes and secure favorable financial loans.

Though the attorney general's probe has been civil in nature, her office has also contributed information to the district attorney’s criminal investigation. The New York Times reports that, because the attorney general’s civil investigation is running parallel to the Manhattan district attorney’s criminal probe, Trump could reject a subpoena to sit for the civil deposition on the grounds that it might incriminate him in the criminal case.

“Even if a judge sided with Ms. James, Mr. Trump could invoke his Fifth Amendment right and decline to respond to questions,” writes the Times.

James is weighing whether to sue the Trump Organization and her request for a deposition with Trump suggests she has reached a critical point in the investigation. Last fall, her office successfully forced Trump's son Eric to sit for a deposition after he initially refused to comply. Trump himself also recently sat for a four-and-a-half hour deposition in a totally different matter related to a group of protesters who sued him for alleged assault by his security guards in 2015. As the Post notes, Trump was also deposed numerous times before taking office in relation to civil suits filed against him and/or his company.

New York prosecutors are particularly interested in the Trump Organization's wildly inconsistent valuations of two properties: 1) a California golf club that the business variously valued at $900,000 and $25 million; 2) and a suburban New York property that Trump alternately said was worth $56 million and $291 million, according to the Post.

The Trump Organization and its CEO, Allen Weisselberg, have already been charged with tax fraud in the joint probe by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and James. That trial could take place next year in the several months preceding the 2022 midterms.

In James' surprise announcement stepping back from the gubernatorial race, she indicated she would run for reelection as attorney general.

“I have come to the conclusion that I must continue my work as attorney general,” James tweeted. "There are a number of important investigations and cases that are underway, and I intend to finish the job.”

New Manhattan Grand Jury Convened To Expand Trump Probe

New Manhattan Grand Jury Convened To Expand Trump Probe

By Karen Freifeld

NEW YORK (Reuters) -The Manhattan district attorney has convened another grand jury to weigh possible new charges in a case involving the Trump Organization, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

The second grand jury was expected to examine how former President Donald Trump's company valued its assets, the Washington Post reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The legal woes could complicate the company's relationships with banks, and could pose a challenge to Trump's political future as he considers running for another term in 2024. Trump has called the charges politically motivated.

The criminal case stems from a probe by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance in collaboration with New York State Attorney General Letitia James.

An indictment unsealed in July charged the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, with tax fraud arising from a probe into Trump's business and its practices.

That indictment said the company provided perks and benefits such as rent-free apartments and leased cars to Weisselberg and other officials without proper reporting on tax returns.

Both Weisselberg and the company pleaded not guilty. A Republican, Trump himself has not been charged.

The new grand jury was seated after the first grand jury's term expired, said the person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A spokesman for the Manhattan District Attorney's office declined to comment.

A lawyer for the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mary Mulligan, a lawyer for Weisselberg, declined to comment.

Trump's company operates hotels, golf courses, and resorts around the world. Before entering the White House in January 2017, Trump put it into a trust overseen by his adult sons Donald Jr. and Eric, as well as Weisselberg. The current status of the trust was not immediately clear.

Besides Weisselberg, another Trump Organization executive who has come under a glare is chief operating officer Matthew Calamari.

Calamari's lawyer Nicholas Gravante has not yet been informed whether his client will be charged or subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury, another person familiar with the probe told Reuters on Thursday.

Calamari's son, Matthew Calamari Jr., testified before a grand jury in September in connection with the case and has immunity from possible prosecution, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Seven Springs Estate

James' probe was initially civil in nature, but in May her office said it was also investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity and had joined forces with Vance.

While it was not immediately clear what the second grand jury was focusing on, James' civil probe has been examining how the Trump organization assessed the value of Seven Springs, a 212-acre estate in New York City's northern suburbs, and in particular a 2015 agreement not to develop a portion of the property.

The attorney general's office said in a court filing for the probe that an appraiser hired by Trump before the agreement set the property's value at $56.6 million and the easement's value at $21.1 million - the amount Trump claimed as an income tax deduction.

James has said she is also investigating a Los Angeles golf club owned by the Trump Organization, which gave the company a tax deduction for a conservation easement in 2014, as well as buildings the company owns on Wall Street and in Chicago.

She said she opened that investigation after Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, said that Trump's financial statements were manipulated to obtain better loans or reduce real estate taxes.

Vance, a Democrat, will step down at the end of the year. James, also a Democrat, has said she will run for governor of New York in 2022.

(Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Writing by Luc Cohen; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Alistair Bell and Aurora Ellis)

Former NY Observer Editor, Pardoned by Trump, Faces New Charges

Former NY Observer Editor, Pardoned by Trump, Faces New Charges

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ken Kurson, a former editor of the New York Observer newspaper who was pardoned in January by then-U.S. President Donald Trump, was criminally charged on Wednesday by Manhattan prosecutors with spying on his former wife by accessing her computer.

Cyrus Vance, the Manhattan district attorney, said Kurson used spyware from computers at the Observer and elsewhere between September 2015 and March 2016 to obtain his wife's passwords and access her Gmail and Facebook accounts.

Kurson, who was divorcing his wife around that time, also anonymously disseminated some of her private Facebook messages, Vance said. The Observer was once owned by Trump's son-in-law and Kurson's friend Jared Kushner.

Kurson, 52, of South Orange, New Jersey, was charged with eavesdropping and computer trespass, both felonies carrying a maximum four-year prison term. Kurson is a political consultant and former speechwriter for Trump's former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

A lawyer for Kurson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

U.S. prosecutors in Brooklyn last October charged Kurson with cyberstalking three people, at least one of whom he blamed for the breakdown of his marriage.

Though Trump's pardon ended that case, U.S. presidents cannot pardon people for state crimes.

"We will not accept presidential pardons as get-out-of-jail-free cards for the well-connected in New York," Vance said in a statement.

In announcing the pardon in January, Trump's White House said the federal probe of Kurson began only because of his reported nomination to the board of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Kurson was the Observer's editor in chief from 2013 to 2017. The newspaper endorsed Trump for president in 2016.

Another pardon recipient, former 2016 Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, was separately charged by Vance with mortgage fraud and other crimes, but that case was dismissed in February on double jeopardy grounds.

In July, Vance charged Trump's family business, the Trump Organization, and its chief financial officer with running a "sweeping" 15-year tax fraud. Both pleaded not guilty.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)

Manhattan DA Follows Money In Trump Probe With Top Exec's Testimony

Manhattan DA Follows Money In Trump Probe With Top Exec's Testimony

NEW YORK — Manhattan prosecutors delving into ex-President Donald Trump's business affairs reportedly presented a grand jury testimony by a Trump Organization official described in documents obtained by The New York Daily News as the man who “took care of the actual movement of money." Jeff McConney — the senior vice president and controller of the Trump Organization — testified before the Manhattan grand jury recently impaneled by District Attorney Cy Vance, Jr., according to ABC News, which cited two sources with direct knowledge. The News was not able to confirm that McConney has testified....