NY AG Letitia James files massive fraud lawsuit against Trump, his business, and his 3 eldest children

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New York’s attorney general filed a sweeping civil suit Wednesday against former President Donald Trump, his business, and his three eldest children.

“Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to further enrich himself and cheat the system,” NY AG Letitia James’ office said.

The suit is the culmination of an aggressive, three-year probe by James, who in 2018 campaigned in part on the promise to investigate — and sue —Trump and his New York-incorporated real estate and golf resort empire.

In April, state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron held Trump in contempt of court and imposed a daily fine eventually totaling $110,000. Trump, the judge found, had failed to fully comply with court orders that he turn over his personal business documents.

Engoron also sided with James in requiring Trump and his two eldest children to comply with her subpoena for their testimony. Trump pleaded the Fifth some 400 times when he was deposed by James and lawyers for her office last month.

Many of the lawsuit’s fraud allegations center on 10 years of Trump’s statements of financial condition. These are annual listings of the value of Trump’s individual sky scrapers, hotels, golf resorts, branding deals and the like; Trump used these allegedly inflated valuations to impress banks and other interests.

The truth of these statements — which were signed either by Trump, or, after 2017, by Eric Trump — has been publicly questioned since the former president’s fixer-turned-critic Michael Cohen turned over the statements for 2011 through 2013 as part of his testimony before Congress in 2019.

James has alleged that Cohen’s testimony about the statements was the impetus for her probe. Even Trump’s now-former accounting firm, Mazars USA, which had prepared the statements for decades, said in February the documents “should no longer be relied upon.”

Mazars walked away from the statements after James’ office found that they repeatedly “misstated objective facts.”

Those facts included the size of his Trump Tower penthouse, which Trump allegedly claimed was three times the actual square footage.

Trump also allegedly overstated his liquidity — the amount of cash on hand — and artificially inflated some of his valuations by an undisclosed flat percentage for “brand” value, despite expressly saying in the statements that this brand value had not been factored in.   

Trump, for his part, has insisted that he has not committed financial wrongdoing and has repeatedly accused the attorney general’s office of conducting a politically motivated “witch hunt.”

This story is developing. Check back for updates.