Donald Trump and children sued by New York for 'exaggerating wealth by billions
New York's attorney general, Letitia James, has filed a fraud lawsuit against President Donald Trump and his children, claiming they 'grossly' inflated the former president's net worth by 'billions of dollars'.
The civil lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan seeks a (£220m) judgement and a prohibition on the Trumps for leading any company or purchasing any property in the state.
The suit continues that the Trumps convinced banks to lend money on favourable terms to the Trump Organization through 'persistent' acts of fraud. Donald Trump's children Ivanka, Eric and Donald Jnr are all named as defendants in the law suit alongside two if the company's executives, Allan Weisselberg and Jeff McConnery.
The suit constitutes the most legal action Mr Trump has faced since leaving office in 2020.
The suit continues that Mr Trump allegedly claimed his Fifth Ave apartment in New York as spanning more than 30,000 sq ft, when it was in fact about a third of that. That allowed the valuation to go above what any apartment has ever sold for in the city, the lawsuit claimed.
Claiming you have money you do not have does not amount to the art of the deal. It’s the art of the steal," Ms James said in a press conference.
"There aren't two sets of laws for people in this nation: former presidents must be held to the same standards as everyday Americans."
If the case goes to trial and Mr Trump loses, a judge could impose financial penalties and restrict the president's business operations in New York. This could mean Trump could struggle with getting bank loans, considered essential for a potential 2024 presidential run.
Mr Trump has denied wrongdoing and has called the investigation a politically motivated "witch hunt" by Letitia James, an attorney general he has called "racist."
"She is a fraud who campaigned on a 'get Trump' platform, despite the fact that the city is one of the crime and murder disasters of the world under her watch!," Mr Trump responded on Wednesday.
Mr Trump last month declined to answer questions in a lengthy, closed-door deposition at the office of the attorney general, invoking his constitutional right against self-incrimination more than 400 times.
Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump agreed to sit for depositions only after court decisions required it. Eric Trump, invoked the right against self-incrimination more than 500 times in a 2020 deposition.
Ms James concluded that Mr Trump and his family business violated several state criminal laws and "plausibly" broke federal criminal laws as well, referring the findings to federal prosecutors.