Presidential documents recovered at Trump residence in Florida 1:45
(CNN) -
Donald Trump's long-time accountants made a very important announcement Monday: They no longer back up the former president's decade-long financial information ... And they would stop working for him.
Trump Organization Accounting Firm Says 10 Years of Financial Statements Are Unreliable
Why is this so important?
Well, the language of Mazars, the accounting firm, hides it a bit, so let me translate it: What they're saying is that neither Trump nor anyone he interacts with should trust the assessments they've made of his relative financial health during the last decade.
The company is, in effect, jumping off what appears to be a sinking ship.
And it does so, at least partially, because of information that has come to light as part of an ongoing investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
"We have reached this conclusion based, in part, on documents filed by the New York Attorney General on January 18, 2022, our own investigation, and information received from internal and external sources," Mazars wrote in a letter. addressed to the legal director of the Trump organization.
In the communication, the firm also advised against relying on financial statements from the end of June 2011 through June 2020.
Commission investigating January 6 quotes Giuliani 2:13
We know that James is investigating allegations that the Trump organization overvalued and undervalued assets to obtain favorable terms on loans and the like.
In a court filing in January, James' office suggested it had found information "indicating that the Trump Organization used fraudulent or misleading asset valuations to obtain a range of economic benefits, including loans, insurance coverage and tax deductions."
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Mazars' decision appears to be an attempt to protect itself from potential Trump-related legal entanglements.
His desire to completely wash his hands of Trump is shown bluntly in this part of the statement:
"Although we have not concluded that the multiple financial statements, taken as a whole, contain material discrepancies, based on the totality of the circumstances, we believe our advice not to rely on those financial statements is appropriate."
A Trump lawyer turned over 8,000 emails to the January 6 commission, but withheld another 11,000.
Bottom line: We haven't found any specific examples of stocks being overpriced or underpriced (yet), but we believe James and want to steer as far as humanly possible from any responsibility in this situation.
And we want everyone who has relied on the financial statements our firm has provided to know that they should stop.
Mazars' decision further isolates Trump as he faces a series of legal issues.
Consider that in addition to the James investigation, Trump faces the following:
1) Manhattan's new district attorney told CNN in December that he plans to focus on the high-profile investigation into Trump's business practices and may expand the investigative team.
As CNN's Kara Scannell reported at the time: "The investigation, which has been going on for several years, appears to be coming to a head with prosecutors focusing on the accuracy of the Trump Organization's financial statements when seeking funding, they said." people familiar with the matter told CNN."
2) E. Jean Carroll filed a defamation lawsuit regarding her claim that Trump raped her in the 1990s. He has denied this rape allegation.
The case is still in litigation.
In December, a three-judge federal appeals court questioned attorneys for Carroll and Trump.
Donald Trump sues his niece Mary Trump 0:54
3) Mary Trump, the former president's niece and author of the scathing book
Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man
, sued Trump in 2020 on the grounds that he, his sister, and his late brother committed a fraud to prevent her from getting her fair share of the estate of Trump's father, Fred Sr. In January, a New York state judge heard Trump's request to dismiss the case.
4) Several Democratic lawmakers and political officials have sued Trump over his alleged role in the insurrection on January 6, 2021. And a House select committee continues to investigate Trump's actions tied to that day.
Trump's unorthodox phone habits complicate Jan. 6 investigation
5) In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is investigating Trump's attempts to overturn the results of the state's 2020 presidential election.
“This is a criminal investigation.
We're not here playing a game," Willis told CNN recently.
"I plan to use the power of the law. We are all citizens."
6) The Department of Justice is investigating a scheme to seat false voters in favor of Trump after the 2020 elections. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, has pointed out that falsifications of public records and electoral records carry up to two decades in prison, under state law.
Nessel referred the investigation to the Justice Department.
7) Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen sued Trump on the grounds that the former president had him jailed to prevent him from promoting his book, which had a decidedly negative view of the former president.
The long list of investigations and lawsuits involving Donald Trump
Adding to all of this are ongoing questions about 15 boxes of White House materials that the National Archives had to retrieve because the Trumps had them and had transported them to Mar-a-Lago.
The legal walls continue to close in on Trump.
And they serve as a reminder that the biggest impediment to Trump running for president again in 2024 is legal, not political.
LawsuitsDonald Trump