New York AG says Trump’s company misled banks, tax officials

NEW YORK — The New York attorney general says her investigators have uncovered evidence that former President Donald Trump’s company used “fraudulent or misleading” valuations of its golf clubs, skyscrapers and other property to get loans and tax benefits. The Trump Organization, James’ office said, overstated the value of land donations made in New York and California on paperwork submitted to the IRS to justify several million dollars in tax deductions. When giving estimates of Trump’s wealth, the company misreported the size of his Manhattan penthouse, saying it was nearly three times its actual size — a difference in value of about $200 million, James’ office said, citing deposition testimony from Trump’s longtime financial chief Allen Weisselberg, who was charged last year with tax fraud in a parallel criminal investigation. Investigators, the court papers said, have “developed significant additional evidence indicating that the Trump Organization used fraudulent or misleading asset valuations to obtain a host of economic benefits, including loans, insurance coverage, and tax deductions.” In its statement, the Trump Organization said “the only one misleading the public is Letitia James.” “She defrauded New Yorkers by basing her entire candidacy on a promise to get Trump at all costs without having seen a shred of evidence and in violation of every conceivable ethical rule,” they wrote. James’ office said that under state law, it can seek ”a broad range of remedies” against companies found to have committed commercial fraud, including revoking licenses to conduct business in the state, seeking the removal of company officers or seeking restitution and “disgorgement of ill-gotten gains.” In the court papers, James’ office said evidence shows that Trump’s company: — Listed his Seven Springs estate north of New York City as being worth $291 million, based on a dubious assumption that it could reap $161 million from building nine luxury homes.