Manhattan DA now has Trump’s tax returns

NEW YORK» Tax and financial records that former President Donald Trump fought to keep secret for nearly 18 months have been turned over to the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is investigating possible fraud by Trump and his company, an official said.

The voluminous records, including eight years of personal tax returns, were handed over to prosecutors Monday, the same day that the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s final bid to block a subpoena for them. A spokesperson for the district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr., confirmed in an email that the office had received the records.

Vance’s investigation, which started more than two years ago, recently zeroed in on possible tax and bank-related fraud. Trump has excoriated Vance and his investigators, saying their work is just the latest example of a politically motivated campaign to charge him criminally. In a lengthy statement reacting to the Supreme Court decision, he again called the investigation a “fishing expedition” and vowed to “fight on.”

Prosecutors have begun combing through millions of pages of esoteric financial documents. In addition, an outside consulting firm is scrutinizing commercial real estate and tax strategies. The office also enlisted the help of a former federal prosecutor, Mark Pomerantz, who has significant experience with white collar and organized crime.

Trump also faces a criminal inquiry from Fulton County prosecutors in Atlanta, who are looking into his attempts to persuade officials to manipulate the election results in Georgia.

The Supreme Court decision allowed Vance to obtain eight years of Trump’s tax returns. It also granted Vance’s office access to the business records that underlie the information in those returns.

One focus of Vance’s inquiry is whether the Trump Organization falsely inflated the value of some of his signature properties to obtain the best possible loans, while lowballing the values to reduce property taxes.