Not only did Trump’s fraudulent inflated financial statements provide the appearance of adequate collateral and thus entitlement to lower interest and insurance rates, they were also used as instruments to cheat the U.S. Treasury out of millions of dollars in taxes. For example, the Attorney General’scomplaintalleges that Trump donated a portion of his Seven Springs property as a conservation easement “for giving up” certain development rights andtook a tax deductionon his federal tax returns based on his fraudulently inflated value of the property.
According to the complaint, that tax deduction “ultimately, and fraudulently, reduced Trump’s tax liability by more than $3.5 million.” This blatant use of phony financial statements to facilitate tax evasion, coupled with Trump’s past fraudulent history, shows that the false financial statements were simply part of the Trump way of doing business.
Nick Akerman, a former Assistant Special Watergate Prosecutor and a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, is an attorney in New York City.
