The New York attorney general’s office said Tuesday that it is pursuing a criminal investigation into the Trump Organization, in addition to the ongoing civil probe.
“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. We have no additional comment at this time,” Fabien Levy, a spokesperson for the office, said in a statement.
Attorney General Letitia James has been at the forefront of legal action against former President Donald Trump’s family business.
The Trump Organization investigation stemmed from allegations made by Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen, who alleged when he testified to Congress in 2019 that Trump had deliberately provided incorrect valuations of assets in official documents, NBC News has previously reported, citing a source familiar with the investigation.
James’ yearslong probe into Trump’s charitable foundation led to its dissolution in 2018. More recently, her investigation into whether Trump’s business had inflated the value of its assets for the purposes of tax breaks and loans came to a head in October when Eric Trump, the president’s son and an executive at his business, sat for a pre-election deposition.
A representative from the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment. / NBC NEWS