Donald Trump and three of his sons have been sued for “years of banking, tax and insurance fraud.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James is suing the former US president, his family and the Trump organization.
If successful, it could halt Trump’s ability to do business in the state for years and would even include a postponement of possible federal prosecution.
The sanctions could actually be a “death penalty” for her organization, Ms. James said.
The lawsuit, more than 220 pages long, details the alleged efforts of Mr. Trump to inflate his personal equity to attract favorable loan deals, while also deflating his value and holdings for better tax benefits.
He also named the children of former President Donald Trump Jr and Eric and his daughter Ivanka Trump as defendants.
Ms. James is asking a court to prevent Mr. Trump and his children from serving as officers or directors in any New York business.
The Trump Organization has denied any wrongdoing.
Trump in a social media post called the action “another witch hunt”. and one of his lawyers labeled him “without merit”.
In a press conference, Ms. James said the lawsuit exposed more than 200 cases of fraud in 10 years.
“Even if the AG office says they are not seeking the dissolution of the Trump Organization, the sanctions they are calling for could amount to an effective” death penalty “for the Trump Organization to continue in New York,” he added.
The lawsuit came on the same day that the Justice Department said Trump has provided no evidence for declassifying the documents seized from his Florida estate.
Mar-a-Lago
The former president had sued the Justice Department after the FBI searched his home in Mar-a-Lago in August, calling for the investigation to be frozen while an independent lawyer was assigned to oversee it.
Of the more than 11,000 documents seized by the FBI, about 100 had classified marks.
Mr. Trump claimed at the time he was president that he declassified them.
One of the top secret documents found
However, on Tuesday, attorneys from the Department of Justice wrote in a filing: “The plaintiff implies once again that he could have declassified the documents before leaving office.
“As before, however, the plaintiff fails to represent, much less to show, that he actually took that step.”
The Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation into Trump for keeping some government documents
marked as highly classified, including the top secretafter leaving office in January 2021.
Trump denied the irregularities and said the investigation is a partisan attack.
