Letitia James, Donald Trump

Former President Donald Trump has withdrawn his lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The withdrawal came in a brief document filed Friday morning with U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks.

Middlebrooks had warned Trump’s legal team the day before that the lawsuit appeared to verge on frivolous.

Trump’s lawsuit against the Attorney General had sought to shield Trump’s revocable trust from James, who has an ongoing $250 million civil suit that alleges fraudulent conduct at the Trump Organization. James has accused Trump and his family members of “grossly” inflating the former president’s net worth by billions of dollars and of cheating lenders and others with false and misleading financial statements.
Trump, who has denied the allegations, has called the investigation by James, a politically motivated “witch hunt.”

On Thursday, Middlebrooks ordered Trump and his attorney Alina Habba to pay fines of nearly $1 million after determining that Trump’s 2022 lawsuit against Hillary Clinton was frivolous litigation meant only to “seek revenge.”

Trump had sued Clinton in March 2022, for allegedly “acting in concert” with top FBI leadership to invent what became known as the Russia investigation into interference in the 2016 election. Trump had argued that the Russia probe was “prolonged and exacerbated by the presence of a small faction of Clinton loyalists who were well-positioned within the Department of Justice.” Middlebrooks dismissed the lawsuit this past September.

In his Thursday opinion, the judge also cautioned Trump’s attorneys that they could face sanctions over their lawsuit against James.

In the opinion, Middlebrooks called Trump “a prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries.”

Donald Trump

Donald Trump‘s real estate company was convicted on Tuesday of carrying out a 15-year-long criminal scheme to defraud tax authorities

A jury in Manhattan has found The Trump Organization guilty of paying personal expenses for top executives including former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, and issuing bonus checks to them as if they were independent contractors.

The company faces up to $1.6 million in fines after being convicted on all charges, including scheming to defraud tax authorities, conspiracy, and falsifying business records. Trump was not charged in the case.
A sentencing date has been set for January 13, 2023.

A lawyer for the Trump Organization said the company would appeal and that the criminal law governing corporate liability was vague.

The Trump Organization is still facing a fraud lawsuit brought by New York state Attorney General Letitia James.

And Trump himself is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice over his handling of sensitive government documents after he left office in January 2021 and attempts to overturn the November 2020 election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

Letitia James, Donald Trump

A Manhattan State Supreme Court judge has ordered the Trump Organization to submit to a court-appointed, independent monitor.

Judge Arthur Engoron agreed with State Attorney General Letitia James that the monitoring is necessary given Trump and his company’s “demonstrated propensity to engage in persistent fraud.”

James had requested the intervention as part of her $250 million fraud lawsuit against the former president, his family, and his business.

As another part of the ruling, Trump cannot now sell, transfer or otherwise move or dispose of any of his properties “without first providing 14 days written notice” to the judge and the attorney general’s office.
The attorney general must recommend three potential monitors to the judge by November 12. Trump’s side would be allowed three days to challenge the choice, but the final decision on who the monitor would be will rest with the judge.

The monitor will ensure that no property transactions or company restructuring occurs without the attorney general’s office getting notice. The ruling said the watchdog also must be given access to any company data he or she needs “to assess the accuracy of any representation” Trump makes in future financial filings.

The oversight would likely stay in place for the year or so it takes for James’ lawsuit to be decided by Engoron in a non-jury trial. The attorney general has asked for an October 2023 trial date.

Former President Donald Trump responded to this by filing a lawsuit in Florida Circuit Court against New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The lawsuit accuses James of repeatedly abusing her position as attorney general to “pursue a relentless, pernicious, public, and unapologetic crusade” against Trump. He claims James is violating his rights to privacy and property and violating his rights as a grantor and beneficiary of the Donald J. Trump revocable trust.

The suit asks a judge to put an end to James’ multiple investigations into Trump and his businesses, which the former president argues are politically motivated. Trump believes that if he had not been elected the former president, he would not be facing “longstanding animosity” from James.

Letitia James, Donald Trump

New York State Attorney General Letitia James announced Wednesday that she is suing former President Donald Trump and three of his children for fraud stemming from her three-year civil investigation into the Trump Organization’s business dealings.

The civil lawsuit seeks at least $250 million in damages.

It also seeks to permanently bar Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Ivanka Trump from serving as an officer of a company in New York, and permanently prohibit the Trump companies named in the suit from doing business in New York state.

James said she has asked federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the IRS to investigate Trump for possible federal crimes. She said that evidence obtained during her three-year civil probe of Trump indicated possible crimes of bank fraud and making false statements to financial institutions.

James said Trump massively overstated the values of his assets in statements to banks, insurance companies and the IRS to obtain more favorable loan and insurance terms for his company, as well as to lower its tax obligations.

The lawsuit alleges that from 2011 to 2021, Donald Trump and the Trump Organization knowingly and intentionally created more than 200 false and misleading valuations of assets on his annual Statements of Financial Condition to defraud financial institutions.

James said that Trump had falsely claimed that his apartment in Manhattan was more than triple its actual size as part of the alleged fraud.

And the suit says Trump valued his Mar-a-Lago club property in Palm Beach, Florida, on the false premise that it sat on unrestricted property and could be developed for residential use, even though he allegedly knew that property was subject to a variety of tight restrictions.

James said that in reality, Mar-a-Lago generated less than $25 million in annual revenue and should have been valued at about $75 million, not the $739 million that was claimed.

In addition to the Trumps, the defendants in the suit include Allen Weisselberg, who acted for years as chief financial officer of the Trump Organization.

Both Weisselberg and the Trump Organization were criminally charged last year by the Manhattan district attorney’s office for an alleged scheme to avoid paying taxes on portions of the compensation given to company executives, among them Weisselberg.

Other defendants in the suit include Weisselberg’s lieutenant, Jeffrey McConney, as well as several Trump companies, among them ones that own properties in Manhattan, Westchester County, New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.

The seven-count suit alleges persistent and repeated fraud; falsifying business records; conspiracy to falsify business records; issuing false financial statements; conspiracy to falsify false financial statements; insurance fraud; and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.

Trump Organization

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jr. announced the deal Thursday, saying Weisselberg as the Chief Financial Officer of the Trump Organization and an employee of the Trump Corporation devised and operated a 15-year scheme to defraud federal, New York State, and New York City tax authorities, evading payment of taxes due on $1.76 million in unreported income.

Weisselberg faces a sentence of five months in jail to be served on Rikers Island and five years’ probation contingent on him testifying in the upcoming criminal trial of the Trump Organization.

Jury selection in the Trump Organization trial is scheduled to begin October 24th.

Prior to sentencing, Weisselberg must also make full repayment of taxes, penalties and interest due to the New York City and New York State tax authorities totaling $1,994,321.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office said the investigation concerning former President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization is ongoing.

Letitia James, Donald Trump

CNN reports a New York judge has fined the Trump Organization‘s former appraiser $10,000 a day after holding it in civil contempt of court for failing to comply with subpoenas from the New York attorney general’s office.

Judge Arthur Engoron said the appraiser, Cushman & Wakefield, “has only itself to blame if it chose to treat the looming deadlines cavalierly.”

Appraisals performed by Cushman, which worked for the Trump Organization for years until it resigned following the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, are central to the civil investigation into the accuracy of the Trump Organization’s financial statements.

Cushman had previously fought the subpoena and challenged it in court. Last month a New York appeals court said it would not block the state from enforcing the subpoena.
The company said it has gone to “extreme lengths” to cooperate with the court and the attorney general’s office, and plans to appeal.

A Cushman spokesman said, “We have gone to great expense and effort to quickly identify, collect, review and produce the massive set of documents requested by the OAG, and we have now produced over hundreds of thousands of pages of documents and over 650 appraisals since the last subpoena was issued in February 2022”

The spokesman added, “Cushman disagrees with any suggestion that the firm has not exercised diligence and good faith in complying with the Court’s order, and we will be appealing this decision.”

Letitia James, Donald Trump

CNN reports a New York judge is holding Donald Trump in civil contempt after the state’s attorney general’s office said he did not comply with a subpoena for documents as part of its investigation into the former President’s company.

Judge Arthur Engoron said Trump failed to abide by his order to comply with the subpoena, and that his attorneys failed to show how a search of materials held by Trump was conducted. Engoron said Trump would be fined $10,000 a day until he complies. A written decision with a start date for fines is expected Tuesday.

Trump plans to appeal the decision, his attorney Alina Habba told reporters.

New York Attorney General Letitia James‘ office has been investigating the Trump Organization for more than two years and previously said her office found multiple misleading or fraudulent misstatements and omissions in the Trump Organization’s financial statements, which were provided to lenders and insurers, among others, as part of its investigation.

Andrew Amer, with the attorney general’s office, said that Trump has failed to produce “even a single responsive document” for a subpoena that was issued to him in December.

In court, Habba said the former president does not believe he is above the law, but simply does not have the types of written communications that were sought by the subpoena, but that he produced hundreds of thousands of documents through his assistants.

The judge asked why Trump didn’t sign an affidavit swearing that he complied with the subpoena. Habba said that he would.

James’ office has said in court filings that the Trump Organization is under investigation for engaging in fraudulent or misleading conduct in connection with appraisals and financial statements. The office has subpoenaed both the former president and his company for documents related to its investigation.

Also Monday, Engoron allowed James’ office to add real estate services firm Cushman and Wakefield as a respondent to its legal action against the Trump Organization, and ordered the company to comply with a subpoena for documents.

At the heart of the subpoenas are appraisals from Cushman and Wakefield appraisers who worked on valuations for Trump Organization properties, as well as documents showing relationships between the two companies and internal communications about Cushman’s decision to ultimately sever ties with the Trump Organization in January.

Austin Thompson, an attorney with the New York attorney general’s office, said his office has identified “misstatements” made by appraisers who made valuations at a Trump Organization property in Westchester County, New York, known as Seven Springs. And while the statute of limitations on some of the appraisals may have run out, the office still wants to investigate other reports that may be more recent and indicated that the real estate firm could become a party to future legal action by the office.

James’ office is also seeking details on how much money Cushman and Wakefield has made from its relationship with the Trump Organization.

Engoron also granted the attorney general’s office’s request to file documents with the court only, because they contained information that could harm its ongoing investigation.

Letitia James, Donald Trump

New York Attorney General Letitia James has issued subpoenas to Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., as part of an ongoing fraud inquiry examining the operations of former President Donald Trump‘s namesake real estate business.

USA Today reports the action was disclosed in court documents filed Monday in connection with the civil investigation focusing on whether the Trump Organization claimed false property valuations in its dealings with lenders and taxing authorities.

A lawyer for the Trump children declined comment Monday.

The move comes as the attorney general also is seeking the testimony of the former president.

The civil investigation has been running parallel to a criminal inquiry led by both James and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

So far, the joint investigation has resulted in criminal tax evasion charges against Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer.

Last year, state prosecutors alleged that the Trump Organization and Weisselberg participated in an “off the books” compensation operation that funded luxury car leases, family members’ tuition payments and apartment rent starting in 2005 and running through this year.

James first launched her investigation after former Trump attorney Michael Cohen told federal lawmakers in 2019 that Donald Trump regularly inflated the value of his properties and his net worth to get better insurance and loan rates.

In May, the attorney general announced that her office was joining forces with the Manhattan district attorney.

Letitia James, Donald Trump

Former President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization have sued New York Attorney General Letitia James, asking for a federal court to halt or limit her office’s ongoing investigations.

CNN reports the lawsuit, which comes on the heels of James’ office seeking to depose Trump as part of its civil fraud investigation into the Trump Organization, also seeks to enjoin James’ involvement in any civil or criminal actions against the former President or his company.

The suit, filed in federal court in Northern New York Monday, accuses James of misconduct, claiming she has abused her investigatory powers to target her political adversaries and advance her career.
James responded to the suit in a statement Monday, saying the Trump Organization has repeatedly attempted to delay her office’s investigation into its business dealings and called the suit an “attempted collateral attack.”

The suit cites comments James made from her 2018 campaign for New York attorney general through recent comments she made on “The View” last week, accusing her of openly flouting her duty to remain neutral in public.

James’ office is investigating whether the Trump Organization manipulated the value of its properties. Her office is also working with Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance‘s office on a parallel criminal investigation into the Trump Organization. The two investigations are separate, but some attorneys from James’ office have been designated to work on the criminal investigation, which is ongoing.

Trump’s suit accuses James of “relentlessly pushing” Vance’s office into a criminal investigation of the Trump Organization. A spokesman for Vance’s office declined to comment.

Attorneys for Trump ask for a declaratory judgment stating that James has violated Trump and the Trump Org’s rights, privileges and immunities and that her investigations constitute “impermissible state action” and an “abuse of power.”

After two years of being blocked by the White House, Republican Leadership, and The Trump Organization at every turn, Democrats hope the new year will provide sunshine on such issues as foreign government spending at Trump properties, Trump’s foreign licensing deals, Trump administration ties to lobbyists and special interests, and spending by Trump’s charitable foundation.

Maryland congressman Elijah Cummings, a Democrat, is poised to take charge of the House Oversight Committee, which could seek Trump’s business tax returns and other company-related financial records.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s personal income taxes, which he withheld during the 2016 campaign and in his two years in office, are expected to be the purview of the House Ways and Means Committee because Internal Revenue Service law allows House and Senate tax-writing committees to request federal returns. Ranking Ways and Means Democrat, Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, has signaled publicly he would ask for them — a move the White House might fight.

Chautauqua County’s representative in Congress, Tom Reed (R-Corning) won reelection this week and is a member of the Ways and Means Committee. WRFA asked him his thoughts about the subpoena power the Democrats will have in the House now that they are in power.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

“Having oversight an investigative oversight in the house is appropriate. If they’re investigating legitimate concerns and not playing politics, hopefully that’s the course that they will pursue,” Reed said. “What I’m very concerned about is if they turn this into a political circus and they use it for political point scoring, all of a sudden that’s going to add to an even more difficult environment in DC to get things done.”

Reed also commented on House leadership and who the new speaker would be. Many speculate that person will be former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but Reed says that’s not a given.

“Looking at the candidates and the members on the other side of the aisle that have stated publicly they do not want to see Nancy Pelosi as speaker, I think with a ten-seat majority that is going to be very difficult for her to have the votes on the floor of the House,” Reed said. “I don’t know how 40-50 people running for office  on the Democratic side saying they would not support Nancy Pelosi and that they need new leadership for speaker can then turn their backs on their word to their constituents and vote for Nancy Pelosi. So I think they are going to have a contentious battle over there but at the end of the day, I’m willing to work with anybody who’s willing to reform these rules and start legislating. So let’s see who steps forward and hopefully it’s a breath of fresh air on the Democratic side.”

Reed, who is co-chair of the House Problem Solvers Caucus, is referring to proposed rules changes that group brought forward in July that it says will reward openness and transparency, encourage a willingness to reach across the aisle, create debate on divisive issues, and empower lawmakers to find real solutions concerning our nation’s most pressing matters. The package includes — among others — proposals to give fast-track priority consideration to bipartisan legislation and guarantees markups on bipartisan legislation from every Member of Congress.

As for alternatives to Pelosi, Reed said  he would support Democrat Steny Hoyer of Maryland, who currently serves as the House minority whip and has voiced support for the rules changes brought forward by the Problem Solvers.

The next session of Congress, which begins in January 2019, will mark the first extended period of time Reed has been part of the minority party since first being elected in 2010, when Republicans took control of the House as part of that year’s Mid-Term elections.