1 of 4 | Accounting firm Mazars USA, which prepared income tax returns for former President Donald Trump, severed ties with the Trump organization and retracted financial records, according to court documents filed Monday. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI |
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Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Former President Donald Trump's longtime accounting firm cut ties with the Trump organization and said that a decade of annual financial statements it prepared for him may be unreliable, according to court documents filed Monday.
Documents filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James showed that the firm, Mazars USA, sent a letter to Trump Organization attorney Alan Garten last week saying that he should inform any recipients that the statements of Trump's financial condition from 2011-2020 "should not be relied upon."
The firm added the conclusion was based on filings by James' office, its "own investigation" and additional information from "internal and external sources."
"While we have not concluded that the various financial statements, as a whole, contain material discrepancies, based on the totality of the circumstances, we believe our advice to not longer rely upon those financial statements is appropriate," Mazars wrote.
Mazars also said due to its decision about the reliability of the past work "as well as the totality of circumstances, we have also reached the point such that there is a non-waivable conflict of interest with the Trump Organization."
James' office is seeking to question Trump and his children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump as part of an investigation into whether the former president used statements to inflate and minimize the value of assets to defraud lenders into providing him favorable loan terms.
Last month, Trump's eldest children said they would not comply with subpoenas by James. Trump in December filed to have the civil investigation thrown out, alleging that it violates his constitutional rights and is motivated by James' "own self-interests."
James' investigation is being conducted concurrently with a criminal investigation by outgoing Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., which started in 2018.
Vance began his probe after Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and tax evasion.
