“We found that Mr. Trump, his children, and the corporation used more than 200 false asset valuations over a 10-year period.”
For Donald Trump, the last year has been chock-full of excitement in the worst possible way. From criminal investigations to FBI raids to congressional hearings, the former president (and potential 2024 presidential frontrunner) has been subject to a rising level of legal and federal scrutiny. And now, another huge blow has landed on Trump, not to mention his organization and family, in the form of a major lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The lawsuit was announced on Wednesday by James, and it accuses Trump, his business, and three of his children (Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric) of lying to lenders and insurers about how much money he had for over a decade. In fact, he allegedly overvalued his business assets by over a billion dollars.
“We found that Mr. Trump, his children, and the corporation used more than 200 false asset valuations over a 10-year period,” James said at a press conference. She added later, “White collar financial crime is not a victimless crime. Everyday people cannot lie to a bank.”
The Trump Organization has already denounced this latest lawsuit, calling it nothing more than “politics, pure and simple.” Trump’s lawyer, too, released a statement labeling the lawsuit as politically motivated, and called the claims within the lawsuit “meritless.” Even Donald Trump Jr. jumped into the mix, tweeting that James, a Democrat, is “weaponizing her office to go after her political opponents!”
Given how much drama Trump tends to generate on any given weekday, it’s easy to dismiss the latest news as just another plink in the bucket — which is why it’s important to emphasize how high the stakes are with this new lawsuit.
Put simply: if Attorney General James succeeds with this lawsuit, the Trumps will be barred from ever running a business in New York state again.
Here’s what you need to know about what’s inside the lawsuit, and why Trump was so willing to risk his career and reputation by allegedly fudging the numbers, again and again, and again.
What’s inside the New York Attorney General’s lawsuit against Donald Trump?
Attorney General James’ lawsuit against Trump is 220 pages long. As you might expect, there’s a wide range of accusations contained within those two hundred pages, but here’s a breakdown of the most significant claims.
The bedrock of the lawsuit has to do with overinflation of assets. According to James, Trump’s annual financial statements were filled with lies, year after year. They overinflated the worth of his properties (including Mar-a-Lago), and routinely tossed aside outside assessments made by banks about those properties.
For example, 40 Wall Street in Manhattan is one of Trump’s most famous properties, and was assessed by a bank to be worth around $200 million — except, the lawsuit states, the Trumps decided to ignore this assessment and label it as being worth double that. Another building in New York, Trump Park Avenue, was assessed in 2010 by a bank and found to be worth $75 million, but the Trumps instead claimed the building was worth $275 million, instead.
“The examples I laid out barely scratch the surface,” James said at the press conference on Wednesday “Claiming you have money you do not have does not amount to the art of the deal. It’s the art of the steal.”
Why Trump allegedly lied about his finances — and what he faces next
These allegations from James may not come as a surprise to many people, given how frequently Trump has been accused of lying about his net worth and professional success in the last decade. But what tends to be discussed less are the implications of those alleged lies. And in the lawsuit, James dug deep into that.
According to James, Trump didn’t just use his inflated net worth to build a specific type of persona (the very persona that facilitated his shocking presidential run and enabled his historically controversial term in the Oval Office). He also used it to obtain “beneficial financial terms” with lenders, insurers, and tax authorities.
In other words, he, his organization, and several of his family members were allegedly able to secure better interest rates, lower premiums, reduce their tax liability, and other financial incentives that ultimately amounted to $250 million in savings — and now, James wants that money back.
Now, the Trump family is set to face off against James and the state of New York in court. And if the Trumps lose, the stakes couldn’t be higher. In addition to being barred from running any business in the state of New York, they would also be forbidden from acquiring any real estate in New York for at least five years, or from applying for loans from any financial institutions based in New York for five years, as well.
