Aug. 24 (UPI) -- New York filed a sealed lawsuit against President Donald Trump's company, his son Eric Trump, and a tax attorney over compliance with an investigatory subpoena, a filing Monday shows.
N.Y. Attorney General Letitia James is investigating the Trump Organization based on accusations that it misled lenders by inflating its net worth, including valuations of Trump's Los Angeles golf course, an office building at 40 Wall St. and a country estate called "Seven Springs" in Westchester County, N.Y.
Last year, the Washington Post reported that Trump had inflated potential sale value of the Seven Springs property in a "Statement of Financial Condition."
In the filing, the attorney general's office asks a state judge to enforce an investigatory subpoena against the Trump Organization, Eric Trump, and tax attorney Sheri Dillon of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, who has represented the president and his company on tax matters.
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Eric Trump abruptly canceled an interview in late July, and is now refusing to be interviewed, according to the filing.
"We cannot allow the requested interview to go forward ... pursuant to those rights afforded to every individual under the Constitution," Eric Trump's lawyers said.
The attorney general's office said it has "not reached a determination" on whether the Trump Organization violated the law.
The Trump Organization's chief legal officer Alan Garten defended the group of approximately 500 business entities under the sole or principal ownership of Trump, according to a statement from Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.
"The Trump Organization has done nothing wrong," Garten said in the statement. James' "continued harassment of the company as we approach the election (and the filing of this motion on the first day of the Republican National Convention) once again confirms that this investigation is all about politics."
The investigation began after Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen told Congress in February of last year that Trump inflates his net worth when it benefits him and downplays his income when it's tax time as a general rule of business.
Trump was also in a legal fight with previous N.Y. attorney general Eric Schneiderman over defrauding students at "Trump University." In April 2018, a federal judge finalized a $25 million settlement for the school to pay students of his defunct Trump University real estate program.
