Donald Trump is facing another huge legal problem — and this one comes with a massive bill. The former President, three of his adult children, and his company, the Trump Organization, are being sued by the state of New York.
On Wednesday morning, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the suit, which accuses Trump of widespread fraud in financial documents. The suit also seeks to ban Trump, Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, and Donald Trump Jr. from doing business in the Empire State! Just like when they were barred from ever doing charity work anymore after their self-dealing was exposed…
According to CNBC, the 220-page civil lawsuit was first filed in Manhattan Supreme Court this week. It seeks at least $250 million in damages from the former Apprentice star and his team.
Holy s**t!!!
In a press conference announcing the action on Wednesday, James said after a years-long investigation they found that Trump “massively” overstated the values of his real estate holdings and financial assets in statements to banks, insurance companies, and the IRS. He did so, the AG alleges, in order to fraudulently obtain favorable loan terms for the Trump Organization, and to lower its yearly tax bills.
The State is accusing Trump and his team of “a repeated pattern and common scheme” in which they made “more than 200 false and misleading valuations of assets included in the 11 Statements covering 2011 through 2021.” Wow, this is only going back a couple years! Imagine how long this has been going on before that…
In a statement, James explained her office’s determination to go after the former politician for his allegedly shady business dealings:
“Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars. For too long, powerful, wealthy people in this country have operated as if the rules do not apply to them. Donald Trump stands out as among the most egregious examples of this misconduct. With the help of his children and senior executives at the Trump Organization, Donald Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself and cheat the system.”
James also made clear they are referring criminal charges to the Department of Justice and the IRS, as he also allegedly broke federal laws with this pattern of fraud.
Wow!
See the full statement to reporters (below):
Among the issues raised in the lawsuit is an allegation Trump falsely claimed the size of his Manhattan apartment was three times its actual size. James says he also valued his Mar-a-Lago property at $739 million — despite objective estimates placing the value at a TENTH of that. Over-valuing assets like that allowed Trump to fraudulently obtain extremely favorable loans and better terms than competitors on various business contracts, James claims.
In addition to Trump and his children, former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg is also named in the suit. In sum, the suit cites seven counts of alleged illegal acts: persistent and repeated fraud, falsifying business records, conspiracy to falsify business records, issuing false financial statements, conspiracy to falsify false financial statements, insurance fraud, and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.
James really isn’t playing around, either. She told the media that her office will seek to bar Trump and his company from acquiring any New York real estate or apply for loans from banks chartered in the state for five years. Her prosecutors have also forwarded their findings to the IRS, who could now go after Trump for potential federal misdeeds.
Considering this is not anywhere close to the first time Trump’s backroom dealings have come under scrutiny, we shouldn’t be too surprised by it. Should we?? And yet…
Over on Truth Social, the former President has already been busy whining and complaining about the lawsuit. On Wednesday morning, Trump wrote this of AG James, who is Black btw, and her newly-filed legal brief:
“Another Witch Hunt by a racist Attorney General, Letitia James. I never thought this case would be brought — until I saw her really bad poll numbers . She is a fraud who campaigned on a ‘get Trump’ platform, despite the fact that the city is one of the crime and murder disasters of the world under her watch!”
Yeah yeah, Donald. Witch hunt, poll numbers, yuuuge conspiracy, many such cases, very sad, blah, blah, blah… But she’s a RACIST now?? Just because Trump is white?!?
In a slightly more professional statement also released to the media on Wednesday, Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba said:
“Today’s filing 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. 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.”
OK then.
So once again we’re put to the question — this is yet another in a long line of basically every single government agency working together on a massive conspiracy and fabricating years of evidence, Democrats and Republicans alike, coming together for a political stunt… Or one real estate developer and former casino owner with a horrible reputation is actually crooked. Tough call… 
What do y’all think about this lawsuit, Perezcious readers??
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