New York attorney general’s office says it’s almost done unraveling Trump’s ‘Russian nesting doll’


They still want to search two cellphones belonging to former President Donald Trump and his executive assistant Rhona Graff’s laptop and desktop, but investigators told a judge this week they are moving quickly.

“The process is nearing completion,” Kevin Wallace, senior enforcement attorney for the New York State Attorney General’s Office, said Monday.

A third-party firm hired to search the Trump Organization’s files has identified 151 custodians, or individuals or entities, who may have documents requested by the attorney general’s office, but Wallace said they are focusing on the “outstanding pieces of information.” important” because the time is ticking for you to file a lawsuit.

The statute of limitations on several laws under consideration stretches back several years, but the expiration agreement with the Trump Organization that stopped the clock expires on Saturday. Even when the agreement expires, it could still be several weeks before the attorney general’s office decides on its next step in the investigation.

The comments came during a court hearing Monday, when New York State Judge Arthur Engoron held Trump in civil contempt and fined him $10,000 a day for failing to comply with a subpoena for documents related to the New York investigation into the finances of the Trump Organization.

Lawyers for the New York State Attorney General’s Office provided a glimpse into their three-year investigation after the judge asked them to explain why it’s taking so long and where it’s headed.

“Given the upcoming end of the toll agreement, it is likely that we will have to take some form of enforcement action in the near future to preserve our rights,” Wallace said. He noted that before filing the request, the attorney general’s office agreed to meet with lawyers from the Trump Organization and “allow them to present their case” and discuss what any “appropriate resolution” would look like.

In addition to the expiration of the toll agreement, evidence may become stale and memories may fade, Wallace noted. “Counsel is in favor of acting as quickly as we can.”

The civilian investigation has been hanging over Trump for several years. He has focused on the investigation that threatens her family’s business, calling Attorney General Letitia James “racist” and accusing her of persecuting him for political gain.

The attorney general’s office has already said in court documents that it believes there were misleading statements and omissions in Trump’s financial statements that were provided to lenders and insurers and used for tax benefits. Trump called the investigation a witch hunt, and he and the company denied any wrongdoing.

The judge previously ordered Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump to make statements. The Trumps have appealed and it is unclear when a decision will come. Eric Trump was deposed in 2020 and asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 500 times. Last month, at the request of the attorney general, the judge ordered the Trump Organization to serve subpoenas by Friday.

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Wallace said that since the Trump Organization is not cooperating with the investigation, the office began an “unguided tour” using financial statements provided to Congress by Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, in February 2019. What they found lawyers, he said. , was a company that does not have the processes and controls normally found in regulated industries, such as banking. Trump’s real estate business, which is large because of the number of golf courses, condominiums, hotels and offices he owns, is run like a small family operation.

“The company relies more on its people than its systems,” Wallace said. There are 500 different entities, millions of dollars in motion and different accounting practices and reporting by business unit, he said.

The attorney general’s office served the first of six subpoenas on the Trump Organization in December 2019, Alina Habba, Trump’s attorney, said at Monday’s hearing. To date, she said, millions of pages of documents have been released and 13 Trump Organization employees interviewed. They include Allen Weisselberg, who served as CFO for decades; Alan Garten, General Counsel of the Trump Organization; and Jeffrey McConney, the controller; along with McConney’s deputy and other employees in finance, according to court documents.

An example of the complexity of the business is Trump’s golf course in Jupiter, Florida. Wallace said they have been pulling strings to understand whether it was “fairly presented” in Trump’s financial statements.

He said the golf club, which was purchased in 2012 for $5 million, was listed on the financial statement in a $2 billion bundle of club assets. There were no footnotes detailing what was included in the package. Supporting documents indicated that Trump valued the course at $46 million. Investigators then looked to determine where the additional $41 million worth came from, which he said led them to take additional investigative paths.

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“These problems are repeated at every club,” Wallace said. “Each of these assets is like a Russian doll.”

Habba said, “There were multiple layers and multiple people because that’s how real estate companies operate.”

The financial statements at the center of the attorney general’s investigation, he said, were an unaudited compilation from a family business.

“These are sophisticated banks and companies,” he said. “No one was lending us money without their own investigation.”

“Honestly, I’d love to get into the details of my client’s properties, some of which are very undervalued, but I don’t think we’re at that stage yet,” Habba argued.



Reference-www.cnn.com

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