Trump Family, Trump Organization Sued by New York Attorney General for Decades of Alleged Fraud

Wednesday morning, after a years-long investigation into the ex-president and the company he owns and runs with his children, the New York Attorney General Letitia James dropped a bomb that probably still reverberates through the halls of Mar-a-Lago: a massive, unprecedented lawsuit against Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization, for allegedly lying to lenders and insurers for years, fraudulently inflating assets, and violating state criminal laws.

In addition to Reportedly James hopes to get $250 million in fines and ban the entire Trump family from ever running a New York business again. While Trump has long been suspected of inflating his own assets for ego purposes, the lies her office uncovered were part of a larger, organized conspiracy, according to James.

Per The New York Times:

The 220-page lawsuit filed in the New York State Supreme Court explains in new and surprising detail how, according to Ms. James, Mr. Trump’s financial statements were a compendium of lies. estimated value of his assets and debts, skyrocketing the value of nearly every one of his major properties — from Mar-a-Lago in Florida to Trump Tower and 40 Wall Street in Manhattan, according to the lawsuit. ratings from outside experts: After a bank ordered a valuation showing Wall Street 40 was worth $200 million, the Trumps immediately valued it at more than double that number. Overall, the lawsuit said 11 of Mr Trump’s annual financial statements contained more than 200 false and misleading asset valuations.

Ms. James, who has become one of Mr Trump’s main opponents, wants to get a hefty price from the former president and his company. Her lawsuit asks a judge to appoint an independent monitor to oversee the company’s financial practices as she takes the Trumps out of running their own family business and Ms. James also wants to prevent the family from acquiring real estate in New York for five years to prevent the company from reinventing itself in Florida while its expanding operations in New York.

Announcing the action against the company, James said on Wednesday that the ex-president not only “cheated the system” but “cheated all of us.” wrote“There are no two laws for people in this country: Former presidents must be held to the same standards as ordinary Americans.”

While James does not have the authority to charge Trump with criminal charges as this is a civil suit, Time notes that in “a footnote in the lawsuit said she provided her findings to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, noting that the conduct described in the complaint appears to be inconsistent comply with federal law, especially bank fraud and false statements to a bank.”

In a statement, Trump attorney Alina Habba insisted the allegations are politically motivated and “undeserved”.