On Wednesday, September 21st, New York State Attorney General Letitia James officially filed a lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, his children Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Eric Trump, as well as the Trump Organization, for fraud.
The lawsuit, which has come after a three-year investigation into the Trump family and the business they own and run together, alleges that they spent years violating state criminal laws, deceiving lenders and insurers, and fraudulently inflating assets by using misleading appraisals. According to reports, the lawsuit, which is said to be over 200 pages, mentions many parts of the family business, which includes its many properties and golf courses. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, for example, is mentioned in the lawsuit as being grossly inflated, as it was reportedly valued at $739 million when it should have been valued at around $75 million.
After a three-year investigation, New York State Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump, the Trump Organization and Trump’s three eldest children. James alleges Trump inflated the value of his assets in an extensive scheme “to cheat the system.” pic.twitter.com/k3DI4iG917
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) September 21, 2022
What does the civil lawsuit state?
The civil lawsuit, which was filed in the State Supreme Court in Manhattan, states: “These acts of fraud and misrepresentation were similar in nature, were committed by upper management at the Trump Organization as part of a common endeavor for each annual Statement, and were approved at the highest levels of the Trump Organization – including by Mr. Trump himself.”
“This conduct cannot be brushed aside and dismissed as some sort of good-faith mistake,” James said about the lawsuit, according to CNN. “The statements of financial condition were greatly exaggerated, grossly inflated, objectively false, and therefore fraudulent and illegal. And as a result of that we are seeking relief, and Mr. Trump, the Trump Organization, his family – they should all be held accountable.”
James is reportedly seeking $250 million in allegedly fraudulently-received funds, and is also seeking to permanently bar Trump and his three adult children from serving as the director of a business registered in the state of New York, and to also cancel the Trump Organization’s corporate certificate, which could force the company to cease operations in New York state if granted. Wow! She also wants to stop the Trump family from acquiring real estate in New York for five years.
Trump labels lawsuit a politically motivated "witch hunt"
While the former president and his three adult children are named as defendants in the lawsuit, company executives Allen Weisselberg and Jeff McConney are also named. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and called the investigation a politically motivated "witch hunt" by James, who rejected a settlement offer from the Trump Organization last month. "She is a fraud who campaigned on a 'get Trump' platform, despite the fact that the city is one of the crime and murder disasters of the world under her watch," Trump said on Wednesday.
