Ivanka Trump fights back after being dragged into her father’s tax investigation

The New York attorney general sent a subpoena to the Trump Organization for records related to consulting fees paid to Ivanka Trump as part of a broad civil investigation into the president’s business, a law enforcement official said Thursday.

The New York Times, citing anonymous sources, reported that the Manhattan district attorney sent a similar subpoena to President Donald Trump’s company, which is conducting a parallel criminal investigation.

The Associated Press could not immediately independently confirm the district attorney’s subpoena, but the one sent by Attorney General Letitia James was described by an official briefed on the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The records requests followed recent reports in The Times, based in part on Trump’s two-decade tax returns, that the president had reduced his company’s tax liability over several years by deducting $ 26 million in consulting fees as a business expense.

The records strongly suggested, The Times reported, that $ 747,622 of those fees had been paid to Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, through a company she owned at a time when she was also an executive of the Trump Organization.

If true, that wouldn’t necessarily pose a problem for Ivanka Trump herself, as long as she paid income taxes on consulting fees, which she reported publicly.

However, it could raise questions about whether related Trump Organization tax deductions were allowed. In the past, the Internal Revenue Service has pursued civil penalties for large write-offs of consulting fees that it found were made to evade tax liability.

The Times wrote that there was no indication that Ivanka Trump was a target of the state or city investigation.

“This is harassment outright,” he said on Twitter Thursday night. “This ‘investigation’ by the New York Democrats is 100% motivated by politics, publicity and anger. They know very well that there is nothing here and that there was no tax benefit. These politicians are just ruthless.”

Trump Organization attorney Alan Garten and his media relations office did not immediately return messages Thursday. James and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., both Democrats, are conducting wide-ranging investigations into Trump’s business affairs.

Both investigations are related, at least in part, to allegations, made in news reports and by President Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, that Trump had a history of inflating the value of some assets to impress banks and partners. trade, but reducing that value when seeking taxes. Benefits

Vance has been involved in a lengthy court battle to seek access to Trump’s tax returns as part of the investigation.