New York Attorney General, Letitia James (D), is seeking a Deposition from Trump, early next year, as part of her Investigation into potential Fraud inside the Trump Organization.
James has requested to take his Testimony on Jan. 7, at her New York Office as part of a Civil Investigation into whether Trump’s Company committed Financial Fraud in the Valuations of Properties to different Entities, Raising the Value to some, and Lowering the Value to Others.
The Deposition marks an Escalation in the Probe of Trump’s Company and a critical moment for James, who is Running for Re-Election, next year.
Both the Attorney General, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, are scrutinizing whether Trump’s Company, Broke the Law, by providing Low Values to Property Tax Officers, while using High Ones to garner Tax Breaks or Impress Lenders. He is also waiting for the results of the same type of Case from Scotland. He is also waiting for the Results from Scotland's Highest Court, their Attorney General, for Money Laundering.
James has said she is considering Filing a Lawsuit over the matter, and Manhattan Prosecutors have Convened a New Grand Jury to consider Potential Criminal Charges related to the company’s Financial Practices.
If Trump refuses to appear for the Deposition, James and her Office could take him to Court and try to Force him to comply.
Last year, James’s Investigators Subpoenaed the Trump’s son Eric, a longtime Executive at the Trump Organization, seeking to Depose him as part of the same Investigation. Eric Trump initially Refused to comply, with his Lawyers citing “those rights afforded to every individual under the Constitution,” according to a Legal Filing from James’ Office. He later agreed to comply and was Questioned last October.
Earlier this Fall, Trump sat for a 4½ hour Deposition in another Case. In that Lawsuit, he was Questioned by Lawyers for a Group of Protesters who have Sued him, alleging that Trump’s Security Guards Assaulted them in 2015.
Before taking office, Trump sat for numerous Depositions as part of Civil Litigation, at times forced to Acknowledged Facts that he had previously Denied. “He can’t be scripted, and he’s injudicious, and he often doesn’t understand that the process is about events and facts, rather than being performance art,” said Tim O’Brien, a Trump Biographer who Sued him. In the 2007 Deposition taken for that Suit, Trump was Confronted by O’Brien’s Lawyers with 30 False Statements or Misstatements.
In their Inquiries, New York Prosecutors are examining Financial Statements related to several of Trump’s Properties, including his California Golf Club, for which he valued the Same Parcel of Land at $900,000 and $25 million depending on the intended Audience, and an Estate in Suburban New York, for which Trump’s Valuations ranged from $56 million up to $291 million. The Valuations were all given in the Five years before Trump won the Presidency.
Appraisers have said it is highly Unusual for a Company to provide such widely Different Valuations of the same Properties at the same time.
Prosecutors appear to have dug deeply into these Properties, according to Court Papers. They have compiled reams of Emails, Planning Documents and Financial Data, even seeking the Initiation Fees Trump charged Golf Club Members as far back as a Decade ago. In Los Angeles, they have asked for Geology Reports on the Rock Layers under Trump’s Course, where the Value was Affected by a History of Landslides.
Earlier this year, in a Joint Investigation with Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, James charged Allen Weisselberg, the Chief Financial Officer of the Trump Organization, and Two Trump Corporate Entities with Tax Crimes.
In that Case, Prosecutors alleged that Weisselberg had Hidden some of his own Compensation, and the Compensation of other Trump Executives, from Tax Authorities, to Lower the Taxes they Owed. Prosecutors alleged that Weisselberg had avoided Paying more than $900,000 over 15 years.
Weisselberg and the Trump Companies All Pleaded Not Guilty.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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