New York State wins major legal ruling in its investigation into Donald Trump
New York State has two different, yet parallel, investigations going on into Donald Trump’s financial life. The Manhattan District Attorney has a grand jury going against Trump, and will at some point criminally indict and arrest him. Separately, New York Attorney General Tish James has a civil case going against Donald Trump and the Trump Organization.
The New York Attorney General case got a major boost when the courts ruled today that the Trump Organization must turn over financial documents from a real estate property that it allegedly falsely valued in order to commit tax fraud. If the Trump Organization refuses to turn over the evidence by the deadline, it opens the door for next steps such as a raid or a seizure, so it’s not as if Trump and his people can simply ignore this ruling.
The New York Attorney General investigation is just a civil case for now, meaning the punishments are along the lines of major fines or asset forfeitures. But the key is that the civil investigation can share (and probably already has shared) any evidence it finds with the Manhattan District Attorney’s criminal investigation. So any criminality unearthed in the civil probe can easily be turned into criminal indictments.
This news comes after last week’s New York Times report that the Manhattan DA has spent recent weeks putting employees of Donald Trump’s bank and insurance company in front of the grand jury, presumably to testify about Trump’s financial crimes. In other words, Trump is moving closer to being criminally indicted on state charges that can’t be pardoned. He’ll end up in prison.
