The office of New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) released a statement revealing more details about the investigation into the Trump Organization.
“We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the Organization is no longer purely civil in nature. We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA. We have no additional comment,” the statement reads, according to CNN.
NEW: The @NewYorkStateAG investigation into the Trump Organization is “no longer purely civil.”
— Sonia Moghe (@soniamoghe) May 19, 2021
“We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA,” a spokesman told CNN. pic.twitter.com/Ctck7VrYc0
According to a court filing from August of 2020, the office of the New York attorney general was investigating “whether the Trump Organization and Donald J. Trump (Mr. Trump) improperly inflated the value of Mr. Trump’s assets on annual financial statements in order to secure loans and obtain economic and tax benefits.”
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance’s office is reportedly looking into millions of pages of documents including Trump’s tax returns.
A person familiar with the investigation said some of the investigators with James’ office have joined Vance’s office, as CNN reports.
James’ office is still pursuing a civil investigation, according to another person familiar with the issue.
The former president and his representatives have repeatedly said they have not participated in any wrongdoing and called the investigations baseless and politically motivated.
Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen told Congress in 2019, “Trump inflated his total assets when it served his purpose, such as trying to be listed among the wealthiest people in Forbes and deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes.”
The financial business of several properties owned by the Trump Organization is being investigated, including those of Seven Springs Estate in Westchester County, New York, 40 Wall Street, a property in Lower Manhattan, Trump International Hotel and Tower Chicago, and Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles, according to CNN.