According to the court, Donald Trump refuses to release documents. This is costing the former US President dearly: a judge has sentenced him to a penalty payment.
Former US President Donald Trump has been fined $10,000 a day if he continues to refuse to turn over financial records to the judiciary.
A New York judge found Trump guilty of contempt of court on Monday. He demanded that the real estate mogul turn over the documents requested by New York Attorney General Letitia James. For every day Trump refuses to do so, a penalty payment of more than 9,260 euros is due.
James spoke of a “great victory”. “Today’s decision makes it clear: nobody is above the law.” The court had asked Trump to hand over requested tax and accounting documents to James by the end of March.
A Trump attorney now said the documents had been handed over “months ago”. She announced legal action against Monday’s court decision.
Did Donald Trump cheat on his finances?
The Attorney General for the state of New York has been investigating possible financial crimes against Trump’s real estate empire since 2019. As part of a civil investigation, she is investigating suspicions that the family holding company, the Trump Organization, artificially inflated the value of real estate when it wanted to obtain loans from banks and in other cases underestimated it in order to have to pay less taxes or insurance premiums.
Last January, James said he had collected evidence of fraudulent financial practices. “In our investigation, we uncovered significant evidence suggesting that Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization misvalued numerous assets and fraudulently.” The assets were misrepresented to financial institutions to gain “economic benefits.”
In February, a judge then ordered Trump, his daughter Ivanka, and his son Donald Jr. to testify under oath as part of the investigation. The Trumps have appealed.
The former president has repeatedly described the Attorney General’s investigation as politically motivated. James is a member of President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party, who defeated Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
In parallel with the Attorney General’s investigation, the Manhattan Attorney’s Office is conducting a criminal investigation into Trump Corporation’s business conduct. In July last year, charges were brought against the Trump Organization and its longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, for tax fraud.
Trump has been accused of dubious business and financial practices for decades. It is still unclear how dangerous the investigations in New York Trump could be. The 75-year-old has repeatedly raised a possible re-election for the presidency in 2024. The right-wing populist is still held in high esteem by his supporters, and he is still the strong man in his Republican Party.
Source: Stern
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