They call Donald Trump “Teflon Don” because he’s never suffered any serious blowback for his many misdeeds. But right now things aren’t looking so hot for him. The House Select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot, which he’s accused of fomenting, are in talks to chat with a key crony: his legally and financially plagued lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Then there are those two investigations into his organization, which have already uncovered “significant evidence” of fraud. Now things just got even worse.
As per The New York Times, Mazars USA, the accounting firm that has long served Trump and his business have cut ties with both. In a letter to the Trump Organization, the firm said they could no longer stand behind the financial statements they had prepared for him for 10 years, from 2011 to 2020. Those statements were based on information Trump and his team had provided for them, which they said they could no longer trust. As a result, all those statements, which Trump had used to secure loans, had been effectively retracted.
The statements prepare by Mazars USA are, incidentally, at the heart of the investigations being conducted by both the New York State attorney general’s office and the office of the Manhattan district attorney.
Mazars USA have been cutting ties with Trump and his business since last spring, when work on his statements was transitioned to a new accounting firm. However, the new letter — which, again, renders past statements they’ve prepared retroactively null and void — not only makes the split public, but suggests they find the information Trump and team provided to be fishy.
Part of the investigations includes claims that the Trump Organization knowingly inflated the value of certain assets, including Trump’s own Trump Tower penthouse in Manhattan. Trump Organization CFO Allen H. Weisselberg, who was indicted last summer over a separate matter, even acknowledged that they had done so. New York State Attorney General Letitia James is looking at a number of properties, which together, James said, suggests that “Mr. Trump’s net worth was higher than it otherwise would have appeared.”
(Via NYT)