NY Prosecutors Subpoena Trump Taxes 09/17 06:10

NY Prosecutors Subpoena Trump Taxes    09/17 06:10

   NEW YORK (AP) -- New York City prosecutors have subpoenaed President Donald 
Trump's tax returns, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated 
Press on Monday.

   Manhattan District Attorney's Cyrus Vance Jr.'s office recently sent a 
subpoena to Trump's accounting firm seeking the last eight years of state and 
federal tax returns for Trump and his company, the Trump Organization, the 
person said.

   The person was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and spoke 
on the condition of anonymity.

   Asked about the subpoena as he left the White House on Monday, Trump said: 
"I don't know anything about it." A lawyer for the Trump Organization, Marc 
Mukasey, said he is "evaluating the situation and will respond as appropriate."

   Vance, a Democrat, subpoenaed the Trump Organization last month for records 
related to payments Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, helped arrange to a 
porn actress who claimed she had an affair with Trump. His office is also 
pursuing a state mortgage fraud case against former Trump campaign chairman 
Paul Manafort.

   Vance's office declined to comment Monday on the tax returns subpoena, the 
news of which was first reported by The New York Times .

   Trump's accounting firm, Mazars USA, said in a statement that it "will 
respect the legal process and fully comply with its legal obligations."

   Mazars was subpoenaed earlier this year by a House committee seeking Trump 
financial records. The firm said it believes strongly in ethical and 
professional rules governing the accounting industry and does not comment on 
work it does for clients.

   Trump, a Republican, is already fighting efforts by several Democratic-led 
Congressional committees to obtain his tax returns and other records that could 
give them a window into his finances.

   Trump and three of his children filed a lawsuit in April seeking to block 
two House committees from getting records that his longtime lender, Deutsche 
Bank, has said includes tax returns. A federal appeals court indicated last 
month that it would take a hard look at the legality of the subpoenas after 
Trump's lawyers argued the House committee subpoenas were overly broad and 
unconstitutional.

   In July, Trump sued to block the application of a new state law in New York 
that could allow a third House committee to obtain his state tax returns. In 
April, he and his company sued the chairman of the House oversight committee to 
block a subpoena issued to Mazars seeking financial statements, accounting 
records and other documents covering 2011 to 2018.

   Meanwhile, New York Attorney General Letitia James is investigating whether 
Trump exaggerated his wealth to obtain loans. She issued subpoenas to Deutsche 
Bank and Investors Bank in March seeking loan applications and other records 
related to Trump real estate projects and his failed 2014 bid to buy the 
Buffalo Bills.

   Vance's investigation appears to be covering some of the same ground as two 
federal probes.

   Federal prosecutors in New York and Washington, who spent months probing 
payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to two women who said they 
had affairs with Trump, Daniels and model Karen McDougal.

   Cohen, who made one of the payments himself and arranged for American Media 
Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer, to pay the other, pleaded 
guilty to campaign finance violations, tax evasion and other crimes and is 
serving a three-year sentence at a federal prison in upstate New York.

   A lawyer for Cohen declined to comment on Vance's subpoenas.

   Trump, who denies any sexual relationship with either woman, has said any 
payments were a personal matter, not a campaign expense.

   The U.S. attorney's office in New York informed a court last month that it 
was finished investigating the payments. No one besides Cohen was charged, 
though prosecutors said in public court filings that Trump himself was aware of 
and directed the payments.

   The Trump Organization also reimbursed Cohen for money he paid to Daniels. 
Cohen has argued that organization officials disguised the true nature of the 
payments and that it is unfair he is the only one prosecuted.

   The federal inquiry looked at whether campaign finance laws were broken.

   The New York Times reported, citing "people briefed on the matter," that 
Vance's inquiry involves an examination of whether anyone at the Trump 
Organization falsified business records by falsely listing the reimbursements 
to Cohen as a legal expense.

   Falsifying business records can be a crime under state law.


(KR)