The attorney general of New York state has filed a civil lawsuit against Donald Trump and members of his family, the culmination of a years-long investigation of financial practices at the Trump Organization.
Letitia James announced the suit in New York on Wednesday.
In a statement, the attorney general said the suit was filed “against Donald Trump, the Trump Organization, senior management and involved entities for engaging in years of financial fraud to obtain a host of economic benefits.
“The lawsuit alleges that Donald Trump, with the help of his children Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump, and senior executives of the Trump Organization, falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to induce banks to lend money to the Trump Organization on more favorable terms than would otherwise have been available to the company, to satisfy continuing loan covenants, induce insurers to provide insurance coverage for higher limits and lower premiums, and to gain tax benefits, among other things.”
Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump were deposed during the state investigation.
Announcing the suit, James said: “The complaint demonstrates that Donald Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself and to cheat the system, thereby cheating all of us. He did this with the help of the other defendants.”
The former Trump Organization chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, and the Trump Organization comptroller, Jeffrey McConney, were also named.
James also said investigators believed “the conduct alleged in this action also violates federal criminal law, including issuing false statements to financial institutions and bank fraud”.
She said: “We are referring those criminal violations that we’ve uncovered to the United States attorney for the southern district of New York and the Internal Revenue Service.”
Before James’s announcement, Bloomberg News reported that “members of Trump’s inner circle” expected the suit, one characterising it as “a fundraising opportunity for James, a Democrat facing re-election in November”.
Trump has consistently accused James of being politically motivated. He has also claimed that the attorney general, who is Black, is racist.
More details soon…