The walls are closing in on Donald Trump from all sides
The Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr., is proceeding with the criminal case against Donald Trump and the Trump Organization. He is looking for the differences between the various real estate valuations claimed in lending documents and the value claimed in tax documents and insurance documents. Cy Vance is also reviewing the capital improvement items and subpoenaed the engineer for the Seven Springs estate. A difference in revenue or expenses or valuation could prove fraud, and the subpoena was fairly specific.
Michael Cohen has alleged that the Trump Organization has inflated assets when seeking loans and deflated them when it came time to pay taxes. The Supreme Court has not made a decision on whether Trump’s accounting firm must turn over financial documents. But now that Trump is not President, the Supreme Court should make a ruling soon. A grand jury has already subpoenaed these records.
There is also a civil case proceeding with the New York Attorney General, Letitia James. A judge has recently ruled that more documents need to be turned over to the NY Attorney General because they are not protected by laws on attorney-client privilege. Judge Engoron looked through the documents and determined which must be turned over by February 4.
In the meantime, January financial disclosure forms show that the Trump Organization saw reduced income while the pandemic dragged on in 2020. For example, the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., brought in $15.1 million in revenue in 2020 and the first three weeks of 2021, according to Trump’s disclosure. That is down 62.7% from 2019, according to his 2019 disclosure.
