The New York attorney general has issued subpoenas to former President Donald Trump and his two older sons in connection with an ongoing civil investigation into the family’s business practices, according to a court file released Monday.
The attorney general’s office, Letitia James, said in the file that it seeks testimonies and documents from Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump “in connection with an investigation into the valuation of Trump properties or properties controlled by the Trump Organization.” said the presentation.
Messages seeking comment were left with attorneys for Trump’s office and James.
The attorney general’s attempt to obtain the former president’s testimony was reported in December, but Monday’s court filing was the first public disclosure that investigators were also seeking information on Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr.
The Trumps are expected to file court papers to vacate the subpoenas, setting up a legal fight similar to the one that unfolded last year after James’s office subpoenaed another Trump son.
Trump sued James last month and sought to end the investigation after she requested that he appear for a deposition on January 7. Trump’s lawsuit, filed in federal court, alleges that the investigation has violated his constitutional rights in a “thinly veiled effort to publicly defame Trump and his associates.”
Monday’s court appearance was the first public acknowledgment by the attorney general’s office that it had previously cited Trump’s testimony.
James, a Democrat, has spent more than two years analyzing whether the Trump Organization misled banks or tax officials about the value of assets by inflating them for favorable loan terms or downgrading them for tax savings.
James’ investigators interviewed one of Trump’s sons, Trump Organization executive Eric Trump, last year as part of the investigation. James’ office went to court to enforce a subpoena on the young Trump and a judge forced him to testify after his lawyers abruptly canceled a previously scheduled statement.
Although the civil investigation is separate from a criminal investigation conducted by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, James’s office has been involved in both. Earlier this year, former district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. gained access to the long-time real estate mogul’s tax records after a multi-year fight that made it to the United States Supreme Court twice.
Before leaving office late last year, Vance convened a new grand jury to hear the evidence as he weighed whether to pursue further indictments in the investigation, which resulted in tax fraud charges in July against the Trump Organization and its former chief financial officer. Allen Weisselberg.
Weisselberg has pleaded not guilty to charges alleging that he and the company evaded lucrative fringe benefits taxes paid to executives.
Both investigations are related, at least in part, to allegations made in news reports and by former Trump attorney Michael Cohen that Trump had a history of misrepresenting the value of assets.
James’ office issued subpoenas to local governments as part of the civil investigation for records related to Trump’s northern Manhattan property, Seven Springs, and a tax benefit Trump received for placing land in a conservation trust. Later, Vance issued subpoenas looking for many of the same records.
James’ office has also been looking at similar issues involving a Trump office building in New York City, a hotel in Chicago and a golf course near Los Angeles. His office also won a series of court rulings that forced Trump’s company and a law firm it hired to turn over a large number of records.
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