Former President Donald Trump is known globally as a mogul and businessman. He has accumulated wealth from many companies. Now, his business ventures are closer to an indictment.
The New York Attorney General’s office provided court investigators information on Tuesday that the former president’s company conducted dishonest or counterfeit tactics to obtain tax benefits and loans. The accuracy of his company’s financial statements has been under scrutiny since 2019. The evidence of wrongdoing was uncovered after many investigative hours by DA and AG investigators, professional accounting experts, and witness testimony.
Accusations of the former president’s businesses practices involve overestimating the value of assets for loans and cutting those corners to avoid heavy tax burdens. Investigators will be questioning the wealthy businessman and his two oldest children soon. Attorney General Letitia James alleges that Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump are closely linked in the fraudulent transactions. James states she will not accept involved parties avoiding testifying in this investigation.
“The Trump Organization issued a statement Wednesday calling the civil investigation “baseless” and politically motivated,” according to Yahoo! News. The ex-president believes the ongoing investigation is a “type of political hunt.”
After many years of investigating, the wealthy mogul’s business ventures are closer to an indictment for possible fraud. Allegedly there are two separate sets of books kept by Trump’s company.
One set obtains information used to receive funds from lenders. The other was used for manipulating tax reports.
“Mr. Trump’s actual knowledge of and intention to make the numerous misstatements and omissions made by him or on his behalf are essential components to resolving OAG’s investigation in an appropriate and just manner,” according to CNN.
Donald Jr.’s entanglement includes several properties owned by his father’s company. One of his roles is to verify the accuracy of economic statements from 2017 until the present. The attorney general’s office said that the former president’s daughter, Ivanka, was the immediate contact with lender Deutsche Bank.
A pattern of misstatements and repeated unsavory omissions have been brought forth by the district attorney and attorney general’s office. Former employees of the ex-president’s organization have testified as well. Statements were produced that linked the wealthy mogul to authorizing the management of his tax returns. Even his net worth is higher than it presents on paper. New evidence pinpoints the likelihood that the former president may have collected $5 million in federal tax benefits.
Trump’s business ventures being closer to an indictment has caused him to go on defense. He sued the attorney general hoping to put a halt to the investigation of his company in December.
Written by Lionel Carter
Edited by Cathy Milne-Ware
Sources:
Yahoo! News: New York AG says Trump’s company misled banks, tax officials; by Michael R. Sisak
Deadline: New York Attorney General Says They’ve Found “Significant Evidence” Of Possible Trump Organization Fraudulent Activity; by Ted Johnson
CNN: New York attorney general’s office says it has identified numerous ‘misleading statements and omissions’ in Trump Org. financial statements; by Kara Scannell
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