The subpoenas for Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr and daughter Ivanka Trump came as a result of an investigation into the “valuation of real estate owned or controlled” by Trump and his company, The Trump Organization, a court document said Monday. The Associated Press (AP) quoted the US news agency.
The attorney general’s attempt to obtain the testimony of the former US president was reported in December, but the lawsuit reported today was the first indication that investigators are also collecting information on Ivanka and Donald Jr...
The Trumps are now expected to initiate court action to overturn the subpoenas, triggering a legal dispute similar to the one that registered last year after Laetitia James’s office summoned another Trump son.
Trump sued James last month in an attempt to end the investigation after he was summoned to appear on Jan. 7 to obtain an affidavit.
Trump’s suit, filed in federal court, alleges that the investigation violated his constitutional rights “in a fairly disguised effort to publicly defame Trump and his associates.”
Today’s court case represents the attorney general’s first public admission that she had previously subpoenaed Trump to testify.
Letitia James, a Democrat, has spent more than two years investigating whether the Trump Organization misled banks and tax authorities about the value of their assets, inflated them to get better loans, or underestimated them to pay lower taxes.
James’ team last year asked Eric Trump, one of the sons of the former president and CEO of the Trump Organization, as part of the investigation.
James’ office went to court to enforce Eric Trump’s subpoena, and a judge ordered him to testify after his lawyers abruptly overturned a previously scheduled affidavit.
Although this civil investigation is separate from the criminal investigation conducted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, James’ office was involved in both.
In early 2021, former Attorney General Cyrus Vance Jr. gained access to a real estate mogul’s old tax records after a multi-year court dispute that twice reached the Supreme Court.
Before leaving office at the end of last year, Vance set up a new grand jury to hear evidence as he considered whether to file further charges based on the investigation, which has indicted the Trump Organization and its longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg. July due to tax fraud.
Weisselberg pleaded not guilty to allegations that he and the company evaded taxes on high indirect earnings paid to executives.
Both investigations relate, at least in part, to allegations in news reports and Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, that the millionaire had a history of distorting the value of his property and assets.
The New York Attorney General’s office has issued subpoenas to local administrations as part of a civil investigation to obtain tax records of Trump’s property north of Manhattan, Seven Springs, and the tax credits Trump obtained for placing the land in a trust.
Subsequently, Vance issued subpoenas regarding obtaining the same records.
The New York attorney general’s office is also looking into similar cases involving Trump’s office building in New York City, a hotel in Chicago and a golf course near Los Angeles.
Letitia James’ office also won a series of positive court rulings that forced Trump’s firm and the law firm he hired to turn over a large amount of records.
Contacted by the Associated Press, lawyers from the Trump and Attorney General’s offices in New York offered no clarification on the currently known subpoena.
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