Trump: Manhattan District Attorney Obtained Former US President's Tax Returns

Will Trump shout “fake news” yet again?

Manhattan prosecutor Cyrus Vance on Monday obtained multi-year tax returns from Donald Trump, a spokesperson said Thursday, immediately after the Supreme Court dismissed a last resort from the former president.

The prosecutor demanded these documents as part of an investigation initially focused on payments made, before the 2016 presidential election, to two alleged mistresses of the billionaire, and now extended to allegations of tax fraud, insurance fraud or bank fraud.

Among the documents requested by the prosecution were the tax returns of Donald Trump over eight years, from 2011 to 2018, as well as those of the Trump Organization, the conglomerate that manages its various activities.

Since the first request, at the beginning of August 2019, Donald Trump and his lawyers will have battled head to foot to prevent the transmission of these documents by the Mazars cabinet, which manages the accounts of the former head of state.

Trump targeted by numerous investigations, most in a civilian setting

According to US media, investigators for Mr. Vance recently interviewed employees of Deutsche Bank, the last major banking establishment still in business with Donald Trump and his group, and his insurance company, Aon.

They also re-questioned former Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who told Congress that his ex-client and his company were artificially inflating or reducing the value of their assets.

These alleged accounting maneuvers could have been aimed at obtaining bank loans or reducing their taxes. Donald Trump has consistently refused to release his tax returns, breaking a tradition that dates back to Richard Nixon half a century ago.

In September 2020, the New York Times, after obtaining nearly two decades of tax documents, published a major investigation claiming that Donald Trump had succeeded in reducing his tax bill to zero in 11 of the 18 years of records obtained.

Donald Trump is not currently the subject of any criminal prosecution, even if, in addition to the investigations of Cyrus Vance, he is the target of many investigations, most in a civilian context.