The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has subpoenaed a New York City property tax agency as part of a criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization, according to a Reuters report.
Bravo to all for the closing-doors image. (Blows chef’s kiss.)
Agree. Maybe just a toilet with the lid down from here on.
A bit of inside baseball here from a retired government attorney. Tax fraud is a specific intent crime, which means that the prosecution must prove that the defendant indented to defraud the taxing authority, not just that the defendant intended to value a property high for insurance purposes and bank loans and low for tax purposes. That is why the accountant’s workpapers (still held up by the Supreme Court) are essential, as they will show what direction the Trump crime family gave.
A second point is that it is very likely that although Donald “made all the decisions” other persons, such as Eric, may have signed the returns. That would also be a problem, which could only partially be overcome by charging a conspiracy.
So unless some family member decides to play Sammy the Bull and talk, it will be a difficult, but not impossible, prosecution.
Can’t believe Trump would do something dishonest. 
Sounds right
extensive and protracted criminal conduct
The subpoena may also show possible discrepancies between the values the Trump Organization assigned to some commercial properties in tax filings and loan document which could boost a fraud charge, tax fraud lawyers told Reuters.
Ya think? I know you can’t get a conviction from an NYT news story, but if the filings show what NYT claimed a couple of years ago, how is this not a slam dunk case?
prosecutors may be looking into potential efforts by the former president’s company to cut down real-estate taxes by playing down the value of some of its commercial properties.
Reminds me of what happened in Cuba.
To keep their tax bills low-to-zero, US companies had for decades under-reported the value of their assets.
Come the revolution many of those assets were nationalized – and when the companies asked for compensation, Castro agreed to provide some, on the basis of the book value as it had been reported by the companies.
This is also an interesting nugget. A former US Attorney and white collar crime prosecutor was hired by Vance.
Manhattan D.A. Recruits Top Prosecutor for Trump Inquiry - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Does it have to be a family member? Would accountants or other Trump org staff be criminally exposed, and so available to be rolled up?
Reuters article is dated 6:10PM on Friday. Looks like the tax agency chose Friday afternoon to confirm the subpoena to Reuters.
Why would such a fabulously wealthy individual take the risk of cheating on his taxes and committing bank fraud? Why, it defies logic. Let’s hear no more of it. Until the indictments.
Ms. Henn has been in the NYC tax-enforcement business for more than forty years …
Jail them all. It’s quite motivational.
Yeah, I know, not gonna happen.
Beat me to it…Felt like I was at the movies I had to sneak into as a kid. 
Not sure I see the distinction here, but you’re the professional. At the very least, the org was clearly trying to defraud someone. If a tax fraud defendant can say, “No, I was trying to defraud they buyer,” and then turn around in a sales fraud case and say, “No, I was trying to defraud the IRS,” maybe someone could look at fixing that. “Mr DT, you’re going down for one of these. Take your pick.”
I know things are rarely as simple as they seem and that parties acting in bad faith can make it more complicated if they want to. After all, we know Trayvon Martin made the mistake of being armed with skittles and having his body get in the way of a bullet fired by a guy ordered by the cops to stay in his truck.
It will be interesting to see if either the bank loan or tax assessment value was supported by an MAI (Made As Instructed, in the vernacular) appraisal or if both were done on the SWAG method. If the two values are substantially different then it is reasonable to infer an intent to defraud either the bank or the taxing authority.
@trnc We’re on the same page
Drip, drip, drip!
Cowed again…
