Donald Trump sued for alleged business fraud after being accused of 'trying to enrich himself and cheat the public'
21 September 2022, 17:12 | Updated: 21 September 2022, 17:57
Donald Trump is being sued for business fraud after he was accused of inflating his net worth to enrich himself and "cheat" the public.
Letitia James, New York state's attorney general, has filed a lawsuit that also includes his children Ivanka, Donald Trump Jr and Eric as defendants.
Mr Trump, who developed his inherited fortune through real estate before becoming a TV star and later a divisive president, was said to have falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself, and cheat the system, thereby cheating all of us", Ms James told the press.
The Trump Organisation denies misrepresenting values of real estate property so it could get better loans and tax benefits.
Ms James, a member of the Democratic Party, which opposes the Republicans to which Mr Trump belongs, has alleged fraud involving some of the Trump Organisation's key assets.
The fraud is alleged to involve properties in Manhattan, Chicago and Washington DC.
It follows a three-year civil investigation into the former president and his company and is unrelated to the recent FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
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Besides the Trump clan, Allen Weisselberg and Jeffrey McConney, two long-term executives at the Trump Organisation, have been named as defendants.
The lawsuit's details were announced on Wednesday.
Ms James said the aim of the fraud was to burnish Mr Trump’s image as a billionaire and improve his properties’ value while at other times play down how much his assets were worth for tax purposes.
She wants to remove the Trumps from businesses engaged in the alleged fraud and bring in an independent monitor to oversee their company’s compliance and financial reporting.
Mr Trump would also be barred from entering into commercial real estate acquisitions for five years.
He would also be blocked from getting loans from banks in New York for five years and be banned along with Ivanka, Donald Jr and Eric from serving as an officer or director at a New York corporation.
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Mr Weisselberg and Mr McConney would also be banned from serving in the financial control function of any New York corporation.
Ms James said her investigation uncovered potential criminal violations, including falsifying business records, issuing false financial statements, insurance fraud, conspiracy and bank fraud.
Alina Habba, a lawyer for Mr Trump, said the lawsuit "is neither focused on the facts nor the law - rather, it is solely focused on advancing the attorney general's political agenda".
"It is abundantly clear that the Attorney General's Office has exceeded its statutory authority by prying into transactions where absolutely no wrongdoing has taken place," she said.
"We are confident that our judicial system will not stand for this unchecked abuse of authority, and we look forward to defending our client against each and every one of the attorney general's meritless claims."
Mr Trump has lashed out at the separate investigation into what material he took from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, where FBI agents are reported to have found highly classified material relating to a country's nuclear weapons capabilities.
He has often branded probes against his conduct as "witch hunts".
