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A2 UP FRONT
Thursday 22 sepTember 2022
Trump accused of vast fraud in suit by N.Y. attorney general
Continued from Front ance, financial reporting, into his efforts to overturn in Florida, and a special from the pharmaceutical
valuations and disclosures the 2020 election. grand jury in Georgia is in- industry for life.
The alleged scheme was to lenders, insurers and tax The Trump Organization is vestigating whether Trump In a previous clash with
intended to burnish Trump’s authorities. set to go on trial in October and others attempted to Trump, James oversaw the
billionaire image and the She is seeking to replace in a criminal case alleging influence state election of- closure of his charity, the
value of his properties the current trustees of that it schemed to give ficials. Trump Foundation, after her
when doing so gave him Trump’s revocable trust, untaxed perks to senior ex- All of the legal drama is predecessor in the attorney
an advantage, such as in which controls his business ecutives, including its long- playing out ahead of the general’s office, Barbara
obtaining favorable loan interests, with independent time finance chief Weissel- November midterm elec- Underwood, filed a lawsuit
terms, while playing down alleging he misused its as-
the value of assets at oth- sets to resolve business dis-
er times for tax purposes, putes and boost his run for
James’ office said. the White House. A judge
“This investigation revealed ordered Trump to pay $2
that Donald Trump en- million to an array of chari-
gaged in years of illegal ties to settle the matter.
conduct to inflate his net James, who campaigned
worth, to deceive banks for office as a Trump critic
and the people of the and watchdog, started
great state of New York,” scrutinizing his business
James said at the news practices in March 2019 af-
conference. “Claiming you ter his former personal law-
have money that you do yer Michael Cohen testified
not have does not amount to Congress that Trump ex-
to the art of the deal. It’s aggerated his wealth on fi-
the art of the steal.” nancial statements provid-
James said her investiga- ed to Deutsche Bank when
tion uncovered poten- he was trying to obtain
tial criminal violations, in- financing to buy the NFL’s
cluding falsifying business Buffalo Bills.
records, issuing false finan- Since then, James’ office
cial statements, insurance and Trump’s lawyers have
fraud, conspiracy and repeatedly sparred over
bank fraud. She said her the direction of the inves-
office is referring those find- tigation and Trump’s un-
ings to federal prosecutors willingness to comply with
and the Internal Revenue Donald Trump, right, sits with his children, from left, Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka subpoenas for his testimony
Service. Trump during a groundbreaking ceremony for the Trump International Hotel on July 23, 2014, in and records. Trump spent
Washington.
In a statement posted to his Associated Press months fighting the sub-
Truth Social platform, Trump poena that led to his Au-
called the lawsuit “Another gust deposition, his lawyers
Witch Hunt by a racist At- unable to convince courts
torney General” and called trustees, to bar Trump and berg, who alone took more tions, where Republicans that he should be excused
James, who is Black, “a the Trump Organization than $1.7 million in extras. are trying to win control of from testifying because his
fraud who campaigned on from entering into commer- Weisselberg, 75, pleaded one or both houses of Con- answers could be used in
a ‘get Trump’ platform, de- cial real estate acquisitions guilty Aug. 18. His plea gress. Bragg’s criminal probe.
spite the fact that the city is for five years, from obtain- agreement requires him to Meanwhile, Trump has been In May, Trump paid $110,000
one of the crime and mur- ing loans from banks in New testify at the company’s laying the groundwork for a in fines after he was held in
der disasters of the world York for five years and per- trial before he starts a five- potential comeback cam- contempt of court for be-
under her watch!” manently bar Trump and month jail sentence. If con- paign for president in 2024 ing slow to respond to a
Trump lawyer Alina Habba three of his adult children victed, the Trump Organi- and has accused President subpoena James’ office
said the lawsuit “is neither from serving as an officer zation could face a fine of Joe Biden’s administration issued seeking documents
focused on the facts nor or director in any New York double the amount of un- of targeting him to hurt his and other evidence. The
the law — rather, it is solely corporation or similar busi- paid taxes. political chances. contempt finding was lifted
focused on advancing the ness entity registered and/ Manhattan District Attorney State law allows a broad in June after Trump and
Attorney General’s political or licensed in New York Alvin Bragg has been con- range of civil remedies his lawyers submitted pa-
agenda,” accusing James State. ducting a parallel criminal against companies com- perwork showing they had
of abusing her authority She also seeks to perma- investigation of the same mitting commercial fraud, made a good faith effort to
“by prying into transactions nently bar Weisselberg and business practices at the including revoking licenses find relevant documents.q
where absolutely no wrong- McConney from serving in heart of James’ civil lawsuit. to conduct business in the
doing has taken place.” the financial control func- That probe lost momentum state, removing company
Habba said the allegations tion of any New York cor- earlier this year after Bragg officers and forcing the
in the lawsuit are “merit- poration or similar business raised questions internally payment of restitution or
less.” entity registered and/or li- about whether a criminal disgorgement of ill-gotten
James is seeking to remove censed in New York State. case was viable, but the gains.
the Trumps from businesses James’ lawsuit comes amid Democrat has said it has James’ office could also
engaged in the alleged a swirl of unprecedent- not been abandoned. seek to ban Trump from
fraud and wants an in- ed legal challenges for a At the same time, the FBI being involved in certain
dependent monitor ap- former president, includ- is continuing to investigate types of businesses, as hap-
pointed for no less than five ing an FBI investigation into Trump’s storage of sensitive pened in January when a
years to oversee the Trump Trump’s handling of classi- government documents judge barred ex-drug com-
Organization’s compli- fied records and inquiries at his Mar-a-Lago estate pany CEO Martin Shkreli facebook.com/arubatoday/