NY AG seeks to hold Donald Trump in civil contempt

New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking to hold former President Donald Trump in civil contempt for his efforts to thwart her civil tax fraud investigation.

In a court filing on Thursday, James’s office said Trump failed to comply with a judge’s order to file subpoenaed documents and asked the judge to fine the former president $10,000 a day for until he turned over the documents and files.

“(R) in addition to ‘fully complying’ with the Court’s express directive by providing all response documents by March 31, Mr. Trump failed to comply at all,” court filings said. write.

“Instead of following the court order, Mr. Trump is trying to evade it. We are seeking immediate court intervention as no one is above the law,” James said in a statement.

The AG office is investigating whether an application was filed civil case against the Trump Organization over allegations that it inflated financial statements for more than two years. In court filings, her office alleges that it “discovered substantial evidence establishing numerous misinformation in Mr. Trump’s financial statements provided to banks, insurance companies, insurance and the Internal Revenue Service”.

The Trump Organization has denied any wrongdoing and has portrayed itself in court papers as leaning back to comply with AG’s document requests. In a court filing in February, the company said it “produced thousands of documents per week (in excess of 750,000 documents by OAG’s own acceptance), while keeping OAG up to date on your progress with weekly progress reports.”

The company also said it was “on track” to meet the April 15 deadline to turn over all relevant documents.

Neither Trump’s legal team nor his presidential office immediately responded to requests for comment on Thursday’s filing.

AG’s office has complained that the company has been slow to turn over documents related to Trump, even though he “personally produced documents focused on the issues under investigation”. Among the items the Congress office said it wanted to review were “a file cabinet at the Trump Organization containing Mr. Trump’s documents” and “Then take notes“Which he used” to communicate with his employees. ”

In his February order, a New York the judge ordered Trump also personally turned over the documents, which the AG’s office said he agreed to do.

Trump was originally supposed to turn over the documents by March 1, but his attorneys asked for more time, the AG’s office said. The filing said James’ office extended the period to March 31, “which Mr. Trump’s attorney agreed was admissible and the Court approved.”

When March 31 arrived, however, Trump’s attorneys filed an objection, arguing that the subpoena was “totally excessive, confusing, unduly burdensome, and does not adequately describe documents and information any communications requested or sought with special reasonableness.”

James’s office said Trump’s attorneys also said they would not turn over the documents because his attorneys could not find them and they were likely in the possession of the Trump Organization. The AG’s office said that was not enough to respond and that Trump’s attorneys did not include necessary details including “what records were searched, what locations were searched, or what records were searched.” any individual who has worked with an attorney or at his direction to carry out such a search.”

In addition to the $10,000-a-day fine, James’s office also asked the judge to settle court fees for additional costs resulting from the stoning.

Trump, his family and company are also fighting James’ efforts to get more information from them in court.

The Trumps are appealing another part of a February order, from State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, that said the former president and his two children, Donald Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump, must sit to pay in the investigation. of AG.

Trump also to sue James in federal court in December in an attempt to thwart the investigation, arguing her investigation was a politically motivated “witch hunt” and designed to fuel the criminal investigation into the firm of the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.

Two attorneys from James’s office assisted the district attorney now stalled investigation, which led to crime against the Trump Organization and Allen Weisselberg, its former chief financial officer. Neither the company nor Weisselberg pleaded guilty to the charges, including allegations of tax fraud and falsifying business records.

at Blogtuan.info – Source: nbcnews.com – Read the original article here