“no one is above the law”

The former US president’s financial and business practices have long been criticized. Now the attorney general in New York is seeking a higher fine because Trump has refused to release the document.

Due to his refusal to release his financial records, the former US president is said to have Donald Trump Pay a fine of $10,000 (€9,210) per day as desired by the New York Attorney General’s office. Attorney General Letitia James applied in court for the fine on Thursday (local time). James has been investigating possible financial crimes against Trump’s real estate empire since 2019.

The attorney general is investigating suspicions that the family’s holding company, the Trump Organization, artificially inflated the value of real estate when it wanted to obtain loans from banks and in other cases to pay lower taxes or insurance premiums. For underestimated it.

“no one is above the law”

In mid-February, a judge ordered Trump, his daughter Ivanka and son Donald Jr. to testify under oath as part of the investigation. He also obliged Trump to hand over tax and accounting documents from the Trump Organization to the attorney general by the end of March. Till date this has not happened.

Attorney General James said Trump was violating a court order and guilty of contempt of justice. The court must “intervene immediately, as no one is above the law”. A Trump lawyer dismissed the demand as “disturbing and baseless”.

Further investigation underway

In January, James said he had collected evidence of fraudulent financial practices. “In our investigation, we uncovered significant evidence that suggests Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization misvalued and fraudulently undervalued multiple assets.” Assets were misrepresented to financial institutions in order to gain “economic gain”.

In parallel with the Attorney General’s investigation, the Manhattan Attorney’s Office is conducting a criminal investigation into the business conduct of the Trump Corporation. In July of last year, charges of tax fraud were filed against the Trump Organization and its longtime chief financial officer, Alan Weiselberg.

Trump has been accused of questionable business and financial practices for decades. It’s still unclear how dangerous the investigation is New York could be made for him. The 75-year-old has repeatedly raised a possible re-election to the presidency in 2024. The right-wing populist is still held in high esteem by his supporters, and he is still a strong figure in his Republican Party.