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NEW YORK (AP) – The Manhattan district attorney said Monday he may have reason to investigate President Donald Trump and his businesses for tax fraud as he seeks to persuade a federal appeals court to allow him to obtain the tax returns. of Trump.
Attorneys for District Attorney Cyrus Vance made the claim in a filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan, four days before it considers Trump’s request to block Vance’s August subpoena. 2019 for tax returns.
Attorneys said “mountainous” public allegations of misconduct, including misstatements about commercial properties, could warrant a grand jury investigation into possible tax fraud, insurance fraud and falsification of business records.
“Even if the grand jury were proving the veracity of the public allegations only, such reports, taken together, fully justify the scope of the grand jury subpoena,” Vance’s attorneys wrote, without charging Trump or his businesses with wrongdoing. .
Jay Sekulow, Trump’s attorney, declined to comment on the filing.
Among the reports Vance’s office cited were allegations that Trump routinely sent lenders financial statements that inflated their assets and omitted debt-laden properties, and from 2004 to 2014 paid $ 400 million in cash for “five houses, eight golf courses and a winery “despite billions. dollars in debt.
They also included the case of Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty to campaign finance and other charges, and testified before Congress that it was common for the Trump Organization to falsify records when applying for loans.
Vance had previously said his investigation was also related to reports of “possibly extensive and prolonged criminal conduct” at the Trump Organization, including possible insurance and banking fraud by the company and its officials.
Trump, a Republican, has said that the summons of Vance, a Democrat, to his accounting firm Mazars USA for eight years of his personal and corporate tax returns was “grossly excessive” and issued in bad faith to harass him.
The president made that argument after the US Supreme Court in July rejected his previous claim of immunity from criminal investigations while he was in the White House.
Trump is now appealing the Aug. 20 ruling by US District Judge Victor Marrero allowing enforcement of the subpoena.
But Vance’s attorneys said Trump’s arguments, including that the Mazars subpoena largely copied an earlier subpoena from Democrats in the US House of Representatives, were “recycled” from when he claimed immunity.
Lawyers called Marrero’s review “meticulous” after Trump accused the judge of dismissively dismissing his arguments as a “hidden” means of immunity.
Oral arguments are scheduled for Sept. 25 before a panel of three judges, all appointed by Democratic presidents.
Although the appeal was accelerated, the public is unlikely to know what is on Trump’s tax returns before the Nov.3 election.
– Reuters
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