Ex-US President Donald Trump's long-standing auditing firm has ended its collaboration in the course of the investigation into his corporate empire and revoked financial reports. The end of the business relationship was due to an "unavoidable conflict of interest," Mazars said in a letter to the Trump Organization.
This is evident from court documents. New York State Attorney General Letitia James revealed the letter from accounting firm Mazars in court to get judges to force Trump to testify in the tax evasion investigation. James announced last month that her team had uncovered evidence of fraud, including fraudulent asset valuations, at Trump's family business.
Annual accounts "no longer reliable"
The auditors have now come to the conclusion that the annual balance sheets for the period between June 2011 and June 2020 are "no longer reliable". The company advised the Trump Organization to notify degree recipients.
"While we have not concluded that the various financial statements as a whole contain any material inconsistencies, given the aggregate of the circumstances, we believe that our advice to you that you no longer rely on these financial statements is reasonable," it said it in the letter of February 9th.
The auditors had prepared the financial statements based on information provided by Trump and his company. The Trump Organization was disappointed with the auditors' decision, the New York Times quoted a statement from the company as saying. It shows, however, that the investigations of the public prosecutor's office are superfluous.
Did Trump want to get cheap loans by fraud?
Both the New York Attorney General and the Manhattan Attorney's Office are investigating whether the Trump Organization overvalued assets to obtain cheap credit. According to James, the family business then undervalued the values in order to save on taxes.
Trump has dismissed both investigations as politically motivated. The ex-president had also fought tooth and nail against the submission of his tax documents in court. Ultimately, however, he was defeated by the Supreme Court a year ago.
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