The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a new attempt by Donald Trump to avoid turning over his accounting records to a New York prosecutor. It allows him to continue his investigations against the ex-president who put him at risk, in the long term, of indictment.
Asked by lawyers for the ex-New York tycoon, the Supreme Court refused to overturn a federal judge’s decision who had ordered the delivery of eight years of tax and banking returns to Manhattan prosecutor Cyrus Vance, who has been asking for them for months.
The Supreme Court had already ordered Donald Trump in July 2020 to transmit these documents to the prosecutor, but the lawyers for the magnate had requested it again to contest the scope of the documents requested.
“The work continues”, simply reacted Cyrus Vance in a statement.
>> Read: Donald Trump must provide his financial documents to a New York prosecutor
Tax fraud
Initially centered on payments made, before the 2016 presidential election, to two alleged mistresses of the billionaire, the investigation by Cyrus Vance, investigated behind closed doors before a grand jury, now also examines possible allegations of tax fraud, insurance fraud, or bank fraud.
According to US media, investigators recently interviewed employees of Deutsche Bank – long the financial backer of Donald Trump and his holding company, the Trump Organization – and his insurance company, Aon.
>> Read: Deutsche Bank ordered to provide documents in Russian investigation
They also re-interviewed the president’s ex-personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who is serving a prison sentence. He had told Congress that Trump and his company were artificially inflating or reducing the value of their assets, to alternately obtain bank loans or reduce their taxes.
Impossible grace
If these suspicions were true and Donald Trump was indicted, they would expose the former president to possible imprisonment. Unlike federal offenses, violations of state laws cannot be pardoned by the US president.
New York State Democratic Attorney Letitia James is also investigating the allegations of bank fraud and insurance fraud in civil proceedings.
Donald Trump did not immediately react to the Supreme Court’s decision on Monday. But in the past he has called the investigation “the worst witch hunt in US history.”
Unlike his predecessors, the real estate developer and ex-reality TV star, who left New York for good to move to his club in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, never released his tax returns. .
ats / sjaq
#Supreme #Court #inflicts #setback #Donald #Trump #taxes #rtsch
