“Not so rich”: Trump was accused of inflating the size of his fortune

Another arrow shot at Donald Trump. The former US president is alleged to have inflated his net worth by as much as $2.2 billion in 2014. Lawyers for Letitia James, New York Attorney General, allege that the former US head of state then used this inflated cost for business deals.

In 2014, a year before entering politics and two years before entering the White House, Donald Trump overstated his net worth by as much as $2.2 billion, lawyers for the New York State Attorney General allege in recently released court documents.

Democrat Letitia James is seeking a summary judgment in her multimillion-dollar civil lawsuit against the Trump Organization over its financial affairs, The Guardian writes.

Her office documents state: “Mr. Trump’s net worth in any year between 2011 and 2021 would have been no more than $2.6 billion, not a reported net worth of up to $6.1 billion, and probably significantly less than that.” if his property was actually valued in a full professional appraisal.”

Corrections to the financial statements for the 10-year period in question would cut Trump’s reported net worth by “17% or more,” the state said. [до] 39% each year, or $812 million to $2.2 billion, depending on the year.”

The trial is scheduled for October. Lawyers for Letitia James argued that no litigation was required “to determine that the defendants presented grossly and substantially inflated assets … and then repeatedly used them … in business transactions to defraud banks and insurers.”

James is seeking $250 million and removing Trump and his sons from doing business in New York.

The former president denies all wrongs, alleging political persecution in civil lawsuits relating to his business and a defamation lawsuit arising from a rape charge, as well as over 91 criminal cases involving subverting elections, possession of classified documents and paying money for silence.

Trump did not immediately comment on New York’s assessment of how much he had inflated his net worth. But he regularly accused James of being politically driven, including in a failed countersuit.

Trump’s financial dealings – his taxes and related claims of his personal wealth – became a national obsession in 2016 when he defeated Hillary Clinton for the White House. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times reported that Trump made up an excuse for not following the rules and released his tax returns on the fly, on a campaign plane.

Chris Christie, a former governor of New Jersey and later a Trump supporter, reportedly told him that there was no legal prohibition against publishing auditable declarations. Trump allegedly said he would contact his lawyers, but never proved he did so.

Christie is now challenging Trump for the presidential nomination next year. Despite his extremely precarious legal position, Trump dominates the polls.

Trump has never made his taxes public, but dogged and award-winning reporting has revealed plenty of evidence of the sharp practice. Late last year, Democratic members of Congress released Trump’s six-year tax returns. Covering the period from 2015 to 2020, they provided a lot of embarrassing information.

Reporting evidence that Trump and his wife Melania “paid $641,931 in federal income taxes in 2015…$750 in 2016 and 2017, nearly $1 million in 2018, $133,445 in 2019, and $0 in 2020,” The Guardian notes, “These numbers reflect serious business losses and undermine the credibility of Trump’s claims of commercial wealth and success—essential to his brand during a successful 2016 campaign.”

In documents released Wednesday, the New York Attorney General’s attorneys seemed confident they would win their case.

“Despite the horde of 13 defendant experts,” they wrote, “in the end, this is a case about documents, and the documents leave no doubt that [отчеты о финансовом состоянии] Mr. Trump does not even remotely reflect the “implied present value” of his assets as a whole. they will trade between well-informed market participants.”

Among seasoned Trump watchers, the news that Trump had inflated his net worth received attention but little surprise.