Supreme Court inflicts scathing setback on Trump on tax returns
Jimmy Curd
If Donald Trump were indicted in this case, the former president would face possible imprisonment.
REFUSAL – Another setback for Trump. The Supreme Court rejected this Monday, February 22 a new attempt by the former US president to avoid having to submit his tax returns to a New York prosecutor.
Asked by lawyers for the ex-New York tycoon, the Supreme Court refused to overturn a federal judge's decision ordering the delivery of eight years of tax and banking returns to Manhattan prosecutor Cyrus Vance, who claims for months.
The Supreme Court had already ordered Donald Trump in July 2020 to transmit these documents to the prosecutor, but the lawyers for the magnate had re-requested it to contest the scope of the documents requested. "The work continues", simply reacted Cyrus Vance in a statement.
Possible incarceration of Trump
Initially focused on payments made, before the 2016 presidential election, to two alleged mistresses of the billionaire, the investigation by Cyrus Vance, investigated behind closed doors before a grand jury, now also examines possible allegations of tax fraud, insurance fraud, or bank fraud.
According to US media, investigators recently interviewed employees of Deutsche Bank – long the financial backer of Donald Trump and his holding company, the Trump Organization – and his insurance company, Aon.
They also re-interviewed the president's ex-personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who is serving a prison sentence. He had told Congress that Trump and his company were artificially inflating or reducing the value of their assets, to alternately obtain bank loans or reduce their taxes.
If these suspicions were true and Donald Trump was indicted, they would expose the former president to possible imprisonment. Unlike federal offenses, violations of state laws cannot be pardoned by the US president.
Banking and insurance fraud
New York State Democratic Attorney Letitia James is also investigating the allegations of bank fraud and insurance fraud in civil proceedings.
Donald Trump did not immediately react on Monday February 22 to the Supreme Court's decision. But in the past he has called the investigation "the worst witch hunt in US history".
Unlike his predecessors, the real estate developer and ex-reality TV star, who left New York for good to move to his club in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, never released his tax returns.
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