NEW YORK (AP) – Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. has been fighting for a year and a half to gain access to former President Donald Trump’s tax records.
Now, thanks to a US Supreme Court ruling, he will have them soon. But what will that mean for the Democrat’s grand jury investigation into Trump’s business affairs?
Former prosecutors say the collection of records could give investigators new tools to determine whether Trump lied to creditors or tax officials before or after taking office.
“Prosecutors are looking for differences in paperwork. “For example, if Trump told the IRS that he’s broken and lenders are rich, that’s just the kind of difference they can make in a case,” said Duncan Levin, a former federal prosecutor who heads Vance. worked on a wide range of white-collar cases. of reduction of assets.
“These documents are a very important piece of the puzzle,” Levin said.
Whether Trump’s records will contain evidence of a crime is uncertain. The former president, a Republican, has argued for years that he has not broken any laws and that he has been unfairly targeted by Democrats for political reasons.
Here’s a look at where the tax records can be useful and where it may not help much, in the district attorney’s investigation:
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MORE THAN NEVER BACK
Trump has made extraordinary efforts to prevent his federal income tax returns from being disclosed, but these are not the only valuable documents included in this period.
Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars, USA, is required to not only submit the final versions of Trump’s tax returns, but also compile versions of the returns and “all financial statements, annual statements, periodic financial statements and independent auditors.” . reports ”kept by the company.
The Mazars subpoena also sought agreement setting out the role of the accountants in compiling tax returns and financial statements; source documents that provide raw financial data to the accountants; and assignments and communications between the firm and Trump representatives. This includes communication indicating how the raw data was analyzed and processed during the preparation of the records.
It could give state prosecutors an ‘open book’ about Trump’s finances, said Adam D. Citron, a former state prosecutor and partner at Davidoff Hutcher & Citron. “It really is the kitchen sink.”
Examining the other documents could be the key to determining whether Trump or his companies provided tax authorities with other information about his income than they provided to other officials, such as banks and business partners.
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HUSH MONEY
When the district attorney’s investigation first began, one of the initial subpoenas sent to the Trump organization asked for information about payments that Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, arranged for women who claimed to be outside -married sexual encounters with Trump.
Cohen said Trump’s company will compensate him later for one of the payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who disguises it in the form of a legal fee.
However, it is not clear whether Trump’s tax records will contribute much to the part of the investigation. The New York Times, which obtained years of Trump’s tax data, wrote that it contained “no new revelations” about the payment to Daniels and no detailed payments to Cohen.
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TAX BREAK
The district attorney’s office has been investigating the arrangements Trump has made to reduce his tax bill. Data in the returns may be necessary to analyze whether any of the maneuvers have exceeded legal limits.
One of the interruptions taken under the microscope is the one Trump received for donating part of his Seven Springs estate, north of New York City, to a conservation trust. Some experts have questioned whether Trump overvalued the country to get a bigger break than he deserves.
Investigators have already sued and received many documents related to the land transaction. Trump benefited from a similar conservation donation in California.
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STATEMENTS TO BORROWERS
Vance’s office did not disclose the full nature of his investigation. But in court documents, prosecutors pointed to news articles that questioned whether Trump had chronically exaggerated the value of his assets to banks and insurance companies. The Associated Press reported last month that Vance’s office was recently interviewed by Cohen for hours, among other things, asked about Trump’s relationship with Deutsche Bank, its largest and longest-serving creditor.
One Washington Post story quoted by prosecutors outlined how various financial revelations from Trump organizations inflated the number of homes for sale on a golf course in California, the area at one of its vineyards, and the number of stories in Trump Tower while the debt information at its Chicago and Las Vegas hotel projects.
Tax records will be just one tool that prosecutors will use to investigate whether any of these statements amount to fraud.
“They’re going to look at valuations and property values,” Citron said of state prosecutors. “They will look at the bills of attorneys to see what their expenses are.”
Monday’s ruling does not guarantee that the public will see Trump’s financial records. For now, they are protected by the rules of secrecy of the grand jury. Even if charges are taken into account in the case, the documents are likely to be heavily modified if submitted to the record.
“Even then, I’m sure there will be numerous lawsuits over it,” Citron said.