After accounting firm Mazars USA dropped the Trump Organization, former President Donald Trump fired back at "prosecutorial misconduct" in New York targeting the company.
"The accounting firm Mazars has been threatened, harassed, and insulted like virtually no other firm has ever been," Trump wrote in a comprehensive statement from his Save America PAC on Tuesday night. "They were essentially forced to resign from a great long-term account by the prosecutorial misconduct of a highly political, but failed, gubernatorial candidate, Letitia James, and the Hillary Clinton run District Attorney's Office of Manhattan, where crime has reached levels not even thought possible, including the vicious killing of a 35-year-old woman in her Chinatown apartment yesterday by a man who should never have been allowed to be on the streets."
Amid AG James' civil investigation into the Trump Organization, Mazars wrote in a letter to chief legal officer at the Trump Organization Alan Garten, its financial statements for 2011 through 2020 should no longer be relied on.
While we have not concluded that the various financial statements, as a whole, contain material discrepancies, based upon the totality of the circumstances we believe our advice to you to no longer rely upon those financial statements is appropriate," Mazars wrote in a letter to Garten.
That letter became public Monday as part of a New York state court filing.
"Murder and other crimes in Manhattan and New York have gone through the roof, some crimes by as much as 100%, as the Democrat run DA and AG spends historic amounts of time, energy, and money trying to 'get Trump,'" Trump's statement continued. "Lawyers from Hillary Clinton's law firm, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, have temporarily left the firm and gone to work in the District Attorney's office in order to viciously make sure that 'the job gets done.'"
Trump's statement pointed out even further ties to prominent Democrats in control of investigations of the Trump Organization, including the "fringe benefits case" against CFO Allen Weisselberg.
"The actions of the AG and DA, including the Radical Left Westchester County DA who was a Trump hating contributor at MSNBC, reveal the vile and malicious intent that underlies the nonstop barrage of insults and threats aimed at me and the Trump Organization, including their years-long review of over nine million pages of documents that go far beyond the Statute of Limitations," Trump wrote. "Letitia James got elected by violently attacking 'Donald J. Trump,' even though she knew nothing about me.
"Likewise, District Attorney Alvin Bragg 'bragged' that he has sued President Trump over 100 times, more than anybody else. He is now working hand-in-hand with people from the law firm which is one of Hillary Clinton's biggest donors.
"Chuck Schumer's brother, Robert, is a partner and runs the firm. After many years as the District Attorney, the previous DA, Cy Vance, recently left without being able to charge anything other than a fringe benefits case about which the WSJ Editorial Board commented, saying, 'Manhattan D.A. Cyrus Vance Jr. and New York Attorney General Letitia James subpoenaed millions of documents and years of tax returns, and that's all they've come up with.' They go on to say, 'the political motives at work are transparent … [AG James] all but promised a selective prosecution — that is, pick a target, then search for a crime to allege … it looks like political targeting.'"
Trump also denounced the prosecution of Weisselberg, 74, who had appeared on the second season of Trump's hit show "The Apprentice."
"The charge against a 74-year-old long-term and wonderful employee is that he did not pay taxes on a company car or a company apartment," Trump wrote. "(Do others pay such a tax? Did Cy Vance pay a tax on his car?), and a charge having to do with my paying for the education of his grandchildren. Murderers all over the city and they are worried about me helping with young children’s education? We may be the only company ever criminally charged by a District Attorney in a fringe benefits case. I believe Allen is innocent."
Trump concluded the witness intimidation of Mazars has forced the company to drop the Trump Organization because it was "scared beyond belief."
"Mazars decision to withdraw was clearly a result of the AG's and DA's vicious intimidation tactics used — also on other members of the Trump Organization," Trump's statement concluded. "Mazars, who were scared beyond belief, in conversations with us made it clear that they were willing to do or say anything to stop the constant threat which has gone against them for years.
"They were 'broken' and just wanted it all to stop. I wish they had the courage to fight it out, but they didn't, and who can blame them, but in their forced letter of surrender, Mazars does strongly state that all work was 'performed in accordance with professional standards' and that there were 'no material discrepancies in the financial statements.'"
Trump's statement began by laying out the case of the valuations of assets.
"We have a great company with fantastic assets that are unique, extremely valuable and, in many cases, far more valuable than what was listed in our Financial Statements," he began. "Anyone with even a minor degree of financial acumen would recognize that these Statements of Financial Condition, prepared for the Trump Organization, are not audited —which is also prominently highlighted in the Disclaimer Declaration on page one and two of the documents themselves.
"My company has among the best real estate and other assets anywhere in the world, has significant amounts of cash, and has relatively very little debt, which is totally current."
Trump has long been alleged to have overvalued his company assets in order to obtain loans, but Trump argued in his statement Tuesday his assets are undervalued when you take the increasing value of his brand into consideration.
"Based on current enthusiasm and transactions which have or will take place, the brand value today could be, in my opinion, substantially higher," Trump wrote. "But even at the low number, this would impart a Net Worth of approximately $8 to $9 billion. Remember, when the Attorney General and or District Attorney say they think my financial statements may be high, I don't even include these branding numbers in them, which is far more than any discrepancy they may have, if there is a discrepancy at all."
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/trumporganization-harassed-finances-statement/2022/02/15/id/1057012/
