New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office announced it has obtained “significant evidence” of wrongdoing after investigators identified numerous “misleading statements and omissions” in tax submissions and financial statements used by individuals with the Trump Organization to obtain loans, CNN’s Kara Scannell reports.
According to the report, investigators filed court documents late Tuesday stating the office “intends to make a final determination about who is responsible for those misstatements and omissions,” adding that “OAG requires the testimony and evidence sought herein to determine which Trump Organization employees and affiliates — and which other entities and individuals — may have assisted the Trump Organization and Mr. Trump in making, or may have relevant knowledge about, the misstatements and omissions at issue.”
“Witnesses closest to the top of the Trump Organization have asserted their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. Certain others have professed faulty memories or asserted that they were following instruction from more senior employees,” the filing states.
“But 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,” they wrote. “Likewise, Donald Trump, Jr. and Ivanka Trump worked as agents of Mr. Trump, acted on their own behalves, and supervised others in connection with the transactions at issue here; their testimony is necessary for appropriate resolution of OAG’s investigation as well.”
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Prosecutors said they need the testimony of former President Donald Trump and two of his adult children to determine their knowledge of the scheme, stating that “Ivanka Trump was a key liaison with lender Deutsche Bank, while Donald Trump Jr. was involved in several properties, including 40 Wall Street, and certified the accuracy of the financial statements from 2017 forward”
According to court documents, investigators stated that about a dozen current and former Trump Organization employees have testified that Trump personally authorized the production of his tax returns.
“In light of the pervasive and repeated nature of the misstatements and omissions, it appears that the valuations in the Statements were generally inflated as part of a pattern to suggest that Mr. Trump’s net worth was higher than it otherwise would have appeared,” the investigators wrote.
They added that “when Eric Trump and Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer, testified in 2020, they both asserted their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in response to over 500 questions each.”
