New York Attorney General Letitia James sued former President Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, the Trump Organization and others on Wednesday for allegedly committing fraud through false financial statements. Trump responded to the civil lawsuit on his social media platform Truth Social, calling James a “failed” attorney general.
“All told, Mr. Trump, the Trump Organization, and the other Defendants, as part of a repeated pattern and common scheme, derived more than 200 false and misleading valuations of assets included in the 11 Statements covering 2011 through 2021,” the complaint states. The lawsuit was filed in Manhattan Supreme Court and seeks a minimum of $250 million in damages.
In addition to $250 million in damages, James also seeks to permanently block Trump and his three adult children from serving as a company’s officer in New York and permanently ban several Trump companies from operating in the state.
James claimed during a news conference that “Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars.”
“For too long, powerful, wealthy people in this country have operated as if the rules do not apply to them,” James said in a statement. “Donald Trump stands out as among the most egregious examples of this misconduct. With the help of his children and senior executives at the Trump Organization, Donald Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself and cheat the system.”
James said her office also “referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for criminal investigation.”
On Wednesday, Trump called James a “failed A.G.” on his social media platform Truth Social.
“Attorney General Letitia ‘Peekaboo’ James, a total crime fighting disaster in New York, is spending all of her time fighting for very powerful and well represented banks and insurance companies, who were fully paid, made a lot of money, and never had a complaint about me, instead of fighting murder and violent crime, which is killing New York State,” Trump wrote. “She is a failed A.G. whose lack of talent in the fight against crime is causing record numbers of people and companies to flee New York. Bye, bye!”
Earlier this month, a New Mexico judge ordered Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin, a Trump supporter who trespassed at the U.S. Capitol when it was breached on Jan. 6, 2021, to be removed from office.
