Manhattan D.A. Has Sufficient Evidence To Investigate Donald Trump On Multiple Fraud Charges
The Manhattan District Attorney has been seeking certain financial records for Donald Trump and his businesses. Despite all the president’s efforts to stall and fight the requests in court, the D.A. now says there is sufficient evidence to proceed with an investigation for criminal tax fraud, insurance fraud, falsification of business records, and scheming to defraud.
Greg Walters for Vice shared a portion of the court filing, listing the possible charges and declaring that these could be filed in New York for Trump business in any location, if the misinformation about records was communicated from the New York headquarters of the Trump Organization, and/or to lenders and authorities based in New York.
The Manhattan DA just told a court there's grounds to investigate Trump and his business for fraud — and got very specific about which statutes:
-Scheme to Defraud
-Falsification of Business Records
-Insurance Fraud
-Criminal Tax Fraud pic.twitter.com/bEzR56YGlH— Greg Walters (@thegregwalters) September 21, 2020
According to the New York Times, District Attorney Cyrus Vance has been fighting since August 2019 to obtain the 8 years of tax documents originally requested in a subpoena.
In Michael Cohen’s book about working for Donald Trump as the president’s personal lawyer and ‘fixer,’ he openly states that Trump had him adjust values — from slight fudging to outright lies — of Trump properties in order to obtain loans, tax reductions, and other benefits he would not have been entitled to, claiming much higher property values, or much lower, depending on the aim.
The president has labeled this investigation as part of a ‘witch hunt,’ which he says is merely a series of unfair attacks on him. Trump has said he expects this case to make it to the Supreme Court, where he is currently rushing to seat a new conservative Justice before the November election.