In a massive, front page story, the NYT has accused President Trump of participating in “questionable” and “dubious” tax strategies “including instances of outright fraud” that greatly increased the fortune he received from his parents and allowed him to accrue millions of dollars in additional wealth from his father’s real estate empire “much of it through tax dodges in the 1990s.”
The NYT reported that Trump and his siblings set up a “sham” corporation to help disguise otherwise taxable income that came from gifts from their parents. The president also allegedly helped his father take improper tax deductions that amounted to millions of dollars, with the Internal Revenue Service reportedly providing little pushback against the Trumps’ reported tactics.
According to the Times’ investigation, “based on a vast trove of confidential tax returns and financial records” Trump received the equivalent today of at least $413 million from his father’s real estate empire, starting when he was a toddler and continuing to this day. And, in what will attract the most attention, the newspaper wrote that Trump’s behavior amounted to fraud in some cases.
The NYT reports that records indicate that Trump helped his father take improper tax deductions; he is also said to have helped formulate strategy to undervalue his parents’ real estate holdings
The Times interviewed former employees and advisers to Trump’s father and reviewed more than 100,000 pages of documents related to the Trump family business, including bank statements, financial audits and invoices.
Charles Harder, an attorney for the president, said in a statement to The New York Times that allegations of tax evasion are “100 percent false,” adding that Trump “had virtually no involvement” with the tax strategies used by his family, and instead delegated those tasks to others. Harder also implied that the newspaper could face a defamation lawsuit if it suggested Trump participated in a fraudulent tax scheme.
“The New York Times’s allegations of fraud and tax evasion are 100 percent false, and highly defamatory,” Mr. Harder said. “There was no fraud or tax evasion by anyone. The facts upon which The Times bases its false allegations are extremely inaccurate.”
The Times says that its findings “raise new questions about Mr. Trump’s refusal to release his income tax returns, breaking with decades of practice by past presidents.”
According to tax experts, it is unlikely that Mr. Trump would be vulnerable to criminal prosecution for helping his parents evade taxes, because the acts happened too long ago and are past the statute of limitations. There is no time limit, however, on civil fines for tax fraud.
Robert Trump, the president’s brother, issued a statement on behalf of the Trump family and said that all appropriate gift and estate taxes were paid after his parents passed away.
Developing.
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