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NEWS AUGUST 31, 2020 ¦ 21

NY Attorney General Sues Trump
Amid Probe of Family Finances

By Jane Wester

The New York Attorney Gen- A number of other Trump prop-
eral’s Office on Monday sued erties, including Trump National
the Trump Organization, Golf Club – Los Angeles, Trump
President Donald Trump’s son Eric International Hotel and Tower Chi-
Trump and two lawyers who have cago and the Manhattan office tower
worked with the Trump Organiza- at 40 Wall Street are also part of the
tion, asking a New York County investigation, according to court fil-
Supreme Court judge to compel the ings.
defendants to comply with subpoe- Eric Trump, who is an officer
nas. of the Trump Organization, has
Attorney General Letitia James is refused to testify after initially
investigating “whether the Trump agreeing to appear in July, accord-
Organization and Donald J. Trump ing to court documents.
... improperly inflated the value of New York State Attorney General Martabono and Dillon have each
Letitia James.
Mr. Trump’s assets on annual finan- Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM testified in recent weeks in response
cial statements in order to secure to subpoenas, but on advice of
loans and obtain economic and tax benefits,” ac- counsel, they declined to answer certain questions,
cording to court documents. according to the court documents.
Land-use attorney Charles Martabano, tax attor- Colangelo argued that the Trump Organization is
ney Sheri Dillon and Dillon’s firm claiming attorney-client privilege
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius are more broadly than is permissible,
also named as defendants in the because evidence indicates that
suit. Martabano and Dillon each One focus of the communication in the subpoe-
worked on matters related to Sev- naed documents was sent for a
en Springs, a Westchester County investigation is whether business purpose and not to ren-
estate. the Trump Organization der legal advice.
and its agents improperly
One focus of the investigation is inflated the value of Seven “A party cannot cloak a busi-
whether the Trump Organization Springs, according to court ness matter in privilege by putting
and its agents improperly inflated a lawyer in charge of it,” Colange-
the value of Seven Springs, ac- documents. lo wrote.

cording to court documents. In a statement, James empha-
“Valuations of Seven Springs sized that “no one is above the
were used to claim an apparent law.”
$21.1 million tax deduction for donating a conser- “Nothing will stop us from following the facts
vation easement on the property in tax year 2015, and the law, wherever they may lead. For months,
and in submissions to financial institutions as a the Trump Organization has made baseless claims
component of Mr. Trump’s net worth,” wrote Mat- in an effort to shield evidence from a lawful in-
thew Colangelo, chief counsel for federal initiatives vestigation into its financial dealings,” she said.
in the AG’s office.
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