Nixing settlement offer, NY AG may sue Trump
Former president reportedly would face fraud charges
NEW YORK — The New York attorney general’s office has rebuffed an offer from Donald Trump’s lawyers to settle a contentious civil investigation into the former president and his family real estate business, setting the stage for a lawsuit that would accuse Trump of fraud, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
The attorney general, Letitia James, is also considering suing at least one of Trump’s adult children, the people said. Ivanka, Eric and Donald Trump Jr., have all been senior executives at Trump’s company, the Trump Organization.
The likelihood of a lawsuit grew this month after James’ office rejected at least one settlement offer from Trump’s lawyers, the people said. While the Trump Organization for months has made overtures to the attorney general’s office — and the two sides could still reach a deal — there is no indication that a settlement will materialize anytime soon.
James, a Democrat who is running for reelection in November, is focused on whether Trump fraudulently inflated the value of his assets and has mounted a3 ½-year inquiry that has cemented her as one of the former president’s chief antagonists. Trump, who has denied all wrongdoing and derided the investigation as a politically motivated witch hunt, has fired back at her, filing an unsuccessful lawsuit to block her inquiry and calling James, who is Black, a racist.
A lawsuit from James would supercharge their drawn-out battle, offering her an opportunity to deliver a significant blow to the former president and his business, which she vowed before taking office to “vigorously investigate.” If the case goes to trial and Trump loses, a judge could impose financial penalties and restrict the former president’s business operations in New York — all potentially in the midst of a 2024 presidential campaign that he is expected to join.
James is hardly the only one investigating Trump, whose final weeks in office are under the microscope in at least three separate criminal investigations. The FBI last month searched his home and club in Florida as part of a federal investigation into his removal of sensitive material from the White House; federal authorities recently seized the phones of two of his close advisers and sent subpoenas to dozens of his aides in an inquiry into Trump’s efforts to reverse his election loss; and a Georgia district attorney has cast a sprawling net in an investigation into potential election interference by the former president and his allies.
Trump has denied all wrongdoing, and it is unclear whether any of these investigations will result in charges against the former president. His company, however, is already under indictment on an unrelated case.
The Trump Organization is set to go on trial next month for criminal tax charges in Manhattan, a case that could expose the company to steep financial penalties if it is convicted. And although Trump was not accused of wrongdoing
in that case, in which the attorney general’s office is also participating, his longtime chief financial officer recently pleaded guilty to participating in the tax scheme and agreed to testify at the company’s trial, giving prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office the upper hand.
James and Trump came face to face last month, when he declined to answer her questions under oath in the course of a four-hour court-ordered deposition. Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment rights more than 400 times during the
session, people with knowledge of the matter have said.
His silence may have handed the attorney general some additional leverage: In civil cases, refusing to answer questions can, in some instances, be held against defendants at trial.
Eric Trump, who ran the company when Trump was in the White House, invoked his Fifth Amendment rights more than 500 times in a 2020 deposition with James’ office. When Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka were interviewed in hourslong sessions under oath this summer, they responded to
questions.
James’ civil inquiry is centered on whether Trump’s annual financial statements falsely inflated the value of his assets — golf courses, hotels and commercial real estate — so he could secure favorable loans and other financial benefits. That area of focus overlaps with a separate criminal investigation from the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which had been moving toward an indictment of Trump early this year before prosecutors developed concerns about proving that he intentionally fabricated the assets’ value.