By The Associated Press
The New York prosecutor on Monday asked a court to enforce subpoenas for an investigation into whether President Donald Trump and his businesses inflated assets in financial statements.
The official, Letitia James, filed a petition in the state court of first instance in New York City pointing to the Trump Organization, an umbrella organization for the president's conglomerate, as the defendant along with other business entities.
The lawsuit also points to Eric Trump and Seven Springs, a property of the Trump family in New York.
[The Trump Organization laid off 1,500 people after closing more than a dozen properties]
The prosecution is investigating whether the Trump Organization and the president improperly exaggerated the value of assets in order to obtain loans and economic and tax benefits. Investigators are trying to determine whether the Trump Organization and its agents improperly inflated the value of Seven Springs, north of the city.
The prosecution emphasizes that "the information regarding the Seven Springs valuation is important" to the office's investigation.
In the petition, the prosecution emphasizes that "the information regarding the Seven Springs valuation is important" to the office's investigation.
Email messages requesting comment have been sent to attorneys for the Trump Organization and Eric Trump.
The revelations of Michael Cohen
The investigation was launched in March 2019 after Michael Cohen, longtime Trump's personal attorney, revealed to Congress that the president had inflated the value of his assets to obtain more favorable terms on loans and insurance coverage. .
[Trump is "a cheater, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator, and a con man," according to his former attorney Michael Cohen]
Since then, the prosecution has issued "a number of subpoenas and has collected testimonies in search of information material for these matters," according to the document presented to the court. Investigators have not yet determined whether the law was violated.
After ex-lawyer disclosures, Trump's situation could get complicated
Feb. 27, 201901: 40"For months, the Trump Organization has made unsubstantiated claims in an effort to protect evidence from a legal investigation into its financial transactions," James said in a prepared statement. "They have withheld documents and instructed witnesses, including Eric Trump, to refuse to answer questions under oath."
The prosecution issued subpoenas to the Trump Organization and Seven Springs LLC in December 2019, seeking financial documents, it is stressed in the request. Since then, the two have "engaged in extensive good faith discussions regarding the Trump Organization's compliance with the subpoenas."
The prosecution is also trying to gather information on several properties linked to Trump, including the Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles, the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago and an office building on Wall Street in Manhattan, where the Trump Organization "Owns a 'land rental' belonging to the properties."