Letitia James is looking at whether the Trump Organization misled banks or tax officials about the value of assets — inflating them to gain favorable loan terms or minimizing them to reap tax savings.
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump sued New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday, seeking to end her civil investigation into his business practices. In the lawsuit, filed two weeks after James requested that Trump sit for a Jan.7 deposition, Trump alleges the investigation has violated his constitutional rights in a “thinly-veiled effort to publicly malign Trump and his associates.” “Her mission is guided solely by political animus and a desire to harass, intimidate, and retaliate against a private citizen who she views as a political opponent,” the former president’s lawyers wrote in the suit. Trump, a Republican, seeks a permanent injunction barring James, a Democrat, from investigating him and a declaratory judgment stating that she has violated his rights. Messages seeking comment were left with James’ office and Trump’s lawyers. News of the lawsuit filed in federal court in Albany was first reported by The New York Times. James has spent more than two years looking at whether Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, misled banks or tax officials about the value of assets — inflating them to gain favorable loan terms or minimizing them to reap tax savings. James’ investigators last year interviewed one of Trump’s sons, Trump Organization executive Eric Trump, as part of the probe. Her office went to court to enforce a subpoena on the younger Trump and a judge forced him to testify after his lawyers abruptly canceled a previously scheduled deposition.
