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'No Longer Purely Civil': New York AG Office Reveals Trump Organization Under Criminal Investigation

© AFP 2023 / DOMINICK REUTERIn this file photo taken on January 16, 2017 US President-elect Donald Trump boards the elevator after escorting Martin Luther King III to the lobby after meetings at Trump Tower in New York City. - The Trump Organization is being investigated in a "criminal capacity" as New York prosecutors advance their probe into former president Donald Trump's business dealings, the state attorney general announced Tuesday. "We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the organization is no longer purely civil in nature," a spokesman for Attorney General Letitia James' office said. "We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA."
In this file photo taken on January 16, 2017 US President-elect Donald Trump boards the elevator after escorting Martin Luther King III to the lobby after meetings at Trump Tower in New York City. - The Trump Organization is being investigated in a criminal capacity as New York prosecutors advance their probe into former president Donald Trump's business dealings, the state attorney general announced Tuesday. We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the organization is no longer purely civil in nature, a spokesman for Attorney General Letitia James' office said. We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA. - Sputnik International, 1920, 19.05.2021
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Earlier, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance launched an investigation into the Trump Organization, examining potential financial fraud and tax fraud - allegations that Trump denied, slamming the investigation as a political "witch hunt".

The New York Attorney General's office informed the Trump Organization on Tuesday that the investigation into the latter's affairs is no longer "purely civil", but criminal.

"We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the organization is no longer purely civil in nature. We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA," James' spokesman, Fabien Levy, said in a statement, cited by CNN.

The office of Letitia James, the NY attorney general, will be working with the Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance's office, as the latter earlier launched a criminal investigation into Trump's private company, looking into "possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct", including tax and insurance fraud and falsification of business records.

Trump has not yet commented on the new announcement.

New York AG Investigation

A civil investigation was launched by the office of NY Attorney General Letitia James in March 2019, looking into whether Trump's company improperly inflated the value of its assets in financial records.

James' office also issued subpoenas to local governments seeking documents on several Trump Organization properties in Manhattan, upstate New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. 

The former president slammed the investigation as "politically motivated harassment".
© AP Photo / Richard DrewNew York State Attorney General Letitia James during a news conference at her office in New York
'No Longer Purely Civil': New York AG Office Reveals Trump Organization Under Criminal Investigation - Sputnik International, 1920, 19.05.2021
New York State Attorney General Letitia James during a news conference at her office in New York

Manhattan DA Investigation

The Manhattan District Attorney criminal investigation was triggered when Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, was found to have made hush payments before the 2016 election to two women who claimed that they had sexual affairs with Trump.

Vance's office has also reportedly been examining Trump's tax records, obtained in February.

A former US president, Trump has denied any wrongdoing, dismissing the investigation as a political "witch hunt". Addressing the 2016 hush money payments, he insisted that they were legal and did not come from the campaign, but from him personally.

The Manhattan probe reportedly quickened after Trump lost the White House to Democratic US President Joe Biden.

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