A New York attorney general has sent a subpoena to the Trump Organization to obtain records regarding consulting fees paid to Ivanka Trump as part of a large-scale civilian investigation into the president’s business dealings, a law enforcement official said Thursday.
The New York Times, citing anonymous sources, reported that a similar subpoena has been sent to US President Donald Trump’s company by a Manhattan attorney general, who is conducting a parallel criminal investigation.
The Associated Press was not immediately able to independently confirm the summons issued by the prosecutor, but the order sent by Attorney General Letitia James was described by an official familiar with the investigation and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The records requests came on the heels of recent reports in The Times, based in part on two decades of Trump’s tax filings, that the president had reduced his company’s income tax liabilities over several years by deducting $ 26 million in consulting fees as business expenses. .
Records strongly indicated, The Times reported, that $ 747,622 of that fee was paid to Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, through a company she owned at a time when she was also an executive at The Trump Organization.
If true, then that wouldn’t necessarily be a problem for Ivanka Trump herself, as long as she paid income tax on the consulting payments, which she reported publicly.
However, it could raise questions about whether tax cuts related to Trump’s organization are permissible. In the past, the Internal Revenue Service pursued civil penalties for large write-offs of consulting fees that were found to be tax evasion.
The Times wrote that there is no indication that Ivanka Trump is a target of achieving the state or city.
“This is pure and simple harassment,” she said on Twitter late Thursday. “This” investigation “by New York City Democrats is 100% driven by politics, propaganda and outrage. They know very well that there is nothing here and that there is no tax benefit at all. These politicians are simply ruthless.”
The Trump Organization attorney, Alan Garten, and its media relations office did not immediately respond to letters on Thursday.
James and Manhattan County attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., both Democrats, are conducting extensive investigations into Trump’s business.
Both investigations are linked at least in part to allegations in news reports and former President Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, that Trump had a history of inflating the value of some assets to persuade banks and business partners, but reducing that value when seeking taxes. Benefits.
Vance was involved in a long court battle seeking access to Trump’s tax returns as part of the investigation.
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