Trump has abandoned his accountants, who consider his financial documents unreliable

Former Republican President Donald Trump’s accounting firm has ditched its longtime client, saying financial statements it had provided for nearly a decade were unreliable, leaked court documents show.

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Last week, Mazars Group notified the Trump Organization in a letter that it would not work with the company, which is under investigation for possible tax evasion.

The document was submitted to the court by state attorney Letitia James, who asked the judge to compel Donald Trump to comply with calls to testify as part of the investigation.

Ms James announced last month that her team had discovered evidence of fraud, including a fraudulent valuation of assets.

According to Mazars, the attorney general’s findings led her to believe that Trump’s accounting for the year ending June 30, 2011 through June 30, 2020 “should not be considered reliable any longer.”

The company added that its own investigations and “information from internal and external sources” also influenced its selection.

The letter states, “Although we have not concluded that the various balance sheets, taken together, contain any material irregularities, given the circumstances, we believe that our advice not to rely on these financial records any longer is warranted.”

In part because of this decision, “Mazars can no longer provide any new product to the Trump Organization,” the report states.

These financial statements are the focus of the investigation of Ms. James, another criminal, led by the Manhattan attorney general.

The Trump Organization is suspected of exaggerating the value of certain properties when applying for loans from banks and understating the value of those properties to a tax officer in order to pay lower taxes.

Last July, the Trump Organization and its trusted accountant, Allen Weisselberg, pleaded guilty in New York court to 15 counts of fraud and tax evasion.

The Manhattan attorney general’s office received multi-year tax returns from Mazars in January after a legal battle that reached the Supreme Court.

For Donald Trump, both investigations are motivated by political goals.

The Trump Organization expressed its “disappointment” after the Mazars Group’s decision, in a press release Monday evening.

But the letter from the accounting office proves, she says, that “Mazars’ business was conducted in accordance with all applicable accounting rules and principles” and that these financial statements “do not contain any material anomalies.”

The investigations in New York are therefore “useless”, as Donald Trump asserts.

But these legal problems could complicate a possible second race for the White House.

The 75-year-old billionaire leaves doubts about his intention to run again or not to run for the Republican Party.

Listen to Philip Vincent Foissy and Alexandre Moranville-Ollé’s news report on QUB Radio: