Trump's accounting firm resigns, says his financial disclosures no longer reliable
Former President Donald Trump's accounting firm, Mazars USA, cut ties with Trump last week, saying his financial disclosures from 2011-2020 can no longer be relied upon, according to a letter the firm sent to the Trump Organization.
The letter was included in a court document filed Monday by the New York Attorney General's office, which is conducting a civil investigation into the way the Trump Organization valued its real estate portfolio.
"We write to advise that the Statements of Financial Condition for Donald J. Trump for the years ending June 30, 2011 - June 30, 2020, should no longer be relied upon and you should inform any recipients thereof who are currently relying upon one or more of those documents that those documents should not be relied upon," the letter to Trump's namesake company said.
"We have come to this conclusion based, in part, upon the filings made by the New York Attorney General on January 18, 2022, our own investigation, and information received from internal and external sources," said the letter. "While we have not concluded that the various financial statements, as a whole, contain material discrepancies, based upon the totality of the circumstances, we believe our advice to you to no longer rely upon those financial statements is appropriate."
Mazars effectively resigned as the Trump Organization's accountant, saying, "Due in part to our decision regarding the financial statements, as well as the totality of the circumstances, we have also reached the point such that there is a non-waivable conflict of interest with the Trump Organization. As a result, we are not able to provide any new work product to the Trump Organization."
The letter indicated that the former president and his wife still have tax returns to file by Feb. 15.
"We believe the only information left to complete those returns is the information regarding the Matt Calimari Jr. apartment," said the letter. "As you know, Donald Bender has been asking for this information for several months but has not received it. Once that information is provided to your new tax preparers, the returns can be completed."
A spokesperson for the Trump Organization refuted the firm's characterization of the organization's financial statements as unreliable.
"While we are disappointed that Mazars has chosen to part ways, their February 9, 2022 letter confirms that after conducting a subsequent review of all prior statements of financial condition, Mazars' work was performed in accordance with all applicable accounting standards and principles and that such statements of financial condition do not contain any material discrepancies," the spokesperson said. "This confirmation effectively renders the investigations by the DA and AG moot."
However, the New York Attorney General seized on the letter as reason why a judge should order compliance with a series of subpoenas issued to the company and personally to Trump, his eldest son Donald Jr., and his eldest daughter Ivanka.
"This development further reinforces what OAG's previous submissions already showed: The Court should order Respondents' compliance with OAG's document and testimonial subpoenas," the attorney general's office said in a filing Monday.
The Trumps have been fighting to dismiss the subpoenas on the grounds they are overly broad and that the investigation is politically motivated.
Monday's AG filing also makes mention of the recent flap over Trump's purported destruction of documents as asserted by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
"Given reports concerning Mr. Trump's destruction of documents covered by the Presidential Records Act, he should be ordered to comply with Instruction 3 in the subpoena entitled 'Documents No Longer in Your Possession,' requiring a sworn statement regarding how documents were destroyed and by whom," the filing said.
