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Tax fraud allegations against Trump family to get New York State review

New York's tax regulators are reviewing allegedly fraudulent tax schemes involving President Donald Trump and his family that were detailed Tuesday by The New York Times, according to the state.
Credit: NICHOLAS KAMM
President Donald Trump reads from an article praising his administration as he answers a journalist during a meeting with sheriffs at the White House in Washington, DC, on September 5, 2018. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

By Jon Campbell, Gannett Albany

ALBANY - New York's tax regulators are reviewing allegedly fraudulent tax schemes involving President Donald Trump and his family that were detailed Tuesday by The New York Times, according to the state.

The Times published a lengthy investigation into Trump, his siblings and their father and the various methods they used to lessen the tax burden on the fortune the children received from their father, including actions the paper suggested were fraudulent.

A spokesman for the state Department of Taxation and Finance said the agency is aware of the allegations, vowing to pursue any investigations necessary.

"The Tax Department is reviewing the allegations in the NYT article and is vigorously pursuing all appropriate avenues of investigation," agency spokesman James Gazzale said in a statement.

Under state law, the Tax Department has the authority to investigate alleged tax fraud but would have to refer any findings to a prosecutor if it found any possible criminality.

Time may not be on the state's side: The conduct detailed by the Times is past the statute of limitations, according to the paper, which noted civil penalties have no such time limit.

Possible fraud alleged

The Times' yearlong investigation of Trump's finances honed in on his financial relationship with his father, the late developer Fred Trump, and various ways he lessened the tax burden for gifts, inheritances and payments to his children.

In one method detailed by the Times, Fred Trump allegedly set up a company that purchased products for his company at a markup, which benefitted the company's owners — the Trump children, including Donald Trump, and a cousin.

In a statement to the Times, a lawyer for Trump said the paper was making "false allegations" based on facts that are "extremely inaccurate."

"President Trump had virtually no involvement whatsoever with these matters," the attorney, Charles Harder, said in the statement. "The affairs were handled by other Trump family members who were not experts themselves and therefore relied entirely upon the aforementioned licensed professionals to ensure full compliance with the law."

Second investigation?

If the Tax Department were to launch a formal investigation, it would be its second involving Trump and his family.

The agency launched an investigation into the Trump Foundation in July after state Attorney General Barbara Underwood sued the charity, accusing it of advancing Trump's self-interests and 2016 presidential campaign.

Underwood's civil lawsuit against the Trump Foundation, Trump and three of his children alleged a wide array of law-breaking, taking particular issue with a fundraiser for veterans with proceeds directed to groups chosen by Trump's 2016 campaign.

But Underwood can't bring state charges in the matter without a referral from a state agency in Cuomo's administration, which helped lead to the Tax Department's probe of the charity.

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