Brendan McDermid Reuters New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a judge Thursday to disparage former President Donald Trump in court for refusing to comply with a judge’s order to hand over documents to her investigation into his company. James also asked Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron to impose a $ 10,000 fine on Trump for each day he fails to deliver the documents. The attorney general also says in a court statement that Trump is violating Engoron’s order to give state investigators the documents by March 31, according to a summons, a deadline that had previously been extended from March 3. James is investigating allegations that the Trump Organization manipulated the declared values of various real estate assets in order to have better financial terms when applying for loans and collateral, as well as for tax purposes. “The judge’s order was crystal clear: Donald J. “Trump must comply with our summons and hand over the relevant documents to my office,” James said in a statement. “Instead of obeying a court ruling, Mr. Trump is trying to avoid it. We are asking for the court to intervene immediately because no one is above the law.” Trump’s lawyer, Alina Hampa, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In February, Engoron ordered Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump to take the oath of office in response to questions from James’s investigators, and Trump had to provide individual additional documents to James’s office. While Trump appealed against his interrogation order, he did not appeal against the order to deliver the documents. “Instead of ‘fully complying’ with the Court’s clear directive by submitting all the relevant documents by March 31, Mr. Trump did not comply at all,” James said in her statement. Trump, on the other hand, objected to “each of the eight requests for documents in the summons on grounds such as excessive scope, burden and lack of specificity,” the statement said. Trump also said that, subject to his objections, “he will not provide any documents” that respond to the summons “because his lawyer told him that none of the documents were found, the statement said. Trump also argued that because the lawyer believed that even if the documents were there, “the Trump Organization has them” and the attorney general “would just have to wait for the Trump Organization to complete its production to get them.” said the deposition. In another court hearing last week, James said her investigation “revealed significant evidence” that Trump’s financial statements had been based on misleading valuations of his property for more than a decade. “These potentially misleading estimates” and other misleading statements “were used by the company” to secure financial benefits – including loans, insurance coverage and tax breaks – on more favorable terms than the facts justify, “she said. This is breaking news. Check again for updates.
