Couple randomly attacked, 1 stabbed, by group of teens in Toronto, police say
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
The New York attorney general says her investigators have uncovered evidence that former President Donald Trump's company used “fraudulent or misleading” valuations of its golf clubs, skyscrapers and other property to get loans and tax benefits.
In a court filing late Tuesday, lawyers for Attorney General Letitia James told a judge they have not decided whether to bring a lawsuit in connection with the allegations, but that investigators should be allowed to question Trump and his two eldest children under oath as part of the civil probe.
The Trump Organization issued a statement Wednesday calling the investigation “baseless” and politically motivated.
The court documents contain the attorney general's most detailed accounting yet of a long-running investigation into allegations that Trump's company exaggerated the value of its holdings to impress lenders or misstated what land was worth to slash its tax burden.
The Trump Organization, James' office said, overstated the value of land donations made in New York and California on paperwork submitted to the IRS to justify several million dollars in tax deductions.
When giving estimates of Trump's wealth, the company misreported the size of his Manhattan penthouse, saying it was nearly three times its actual size - a difference in value of about $200 million, James' office said, citing deposition testimony from Trump's longtime financial chief Allen Weisselberg, who was charged last year with tax fraud in a parallel criminal investigation.
James' office detailed its findings in a court motion seeking to force Trump, his daughter Ivanka Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr. to comply with subpoenas seeking their testimony.
Investigators, the court papers said, have “developed significant additional evidence indicating that the Trump Organization used fraudulent or misleading asset valuations to obtain a host of economic benefits, including loans, insurance coverage, and tax deductions.”
In its statement, the Trump Organization said “the only one misleading the public is Letitia James.”
“She defrauded New Yorkers by basing her entire candidacy on a promise to get Trump at all costs without having seen a shred of evidence and in violation of every conceivable ethical rule,” they wrote. “Three years later she is now faced with the stark reality that she has no case.”
Donald Trump Jr. said on Twitter that the investigation “is nothing more than political retribution from her on behalf of the entire Dem Party. She should be disbarred!”
The disclosure comes as Trump has been laying the groundwork for a potential comeback campaign for president in 2024. He held his first rally of the new year last weekend in Arizona, where he slammed the “monsters that are using law enforcement for political retribution at the local, state and federal level” and aired an anti-James video that highlighted her past anti-Trump statements.
Trump's legal team has sought to block the subpoenas, and it asked a federal court last month to put an end to James' investigation. That lawsuit is pending. His lawyers say James is improperly attempting to obtain testimony in her civil probe that could be used in a parallel criminal investigation overseen by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
In a statement late Tuesday, James' office said the evidence gathered so far shows that her investigation should proceed unimpeded.
“For more than two years, the Trump Organization has used delay tactics and litigation in an attempt to thwart a legitimate investigation into its financial dealings,” James said. “Thus far in our investigation, we have uncovered significant evidence that suggests Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization falsely and fraudulently valued multiple assets and misrepresented those values to financial institutions for economic benefit.”
Although James' investigation is separate from the criminal investigation, her office has been involved in both, dispatching several lawyers to work side by side with prosecutors from the Manhattan D.A.'s office.
James' office said that under state law, it can seek ”a broad range of remedies” against companies found to have committed commercial fraud, including revoking licenses to conduct business in the state, seeking the removal of company officers or seeking restitution and “disgorgement of ill-gotten gains.”
In the court papers, James' office said evidence shows that Trump's company:
One judge previously sided with James on an earlier request to question another Trump son, Trump Organization executive Eric Trump, who ultimately sat for a deposition but declined to answer some questions.
Last year, the Manhattan district attorney brought tax fraud charges against the Trump Organization and Weisselberg, its longtime chief financial officer.
Weisselberg pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he and the company evaded taxes on fringe benefits paid to executives.
The disclosures about the attorney general's investigation came the same day as Trump ally Rudy Giuliani and other members of the legal team that sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election were subpoenaed by a House committee investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection.
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
Ron Ellis, who played over 1,000 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs and was a member of Canada's team at the 1972 Summit Series, has died at age 79.
The wildfire that sparked Friday and caused evacuation orders for more than 3,000 people in Fort Nelson, B.C., and the nearby Fort Nelson First Nation, has grown to nearly 1,700 hectares in size, according to a Saturday morning update from the BC Wildfire Service.
Hours before the final, Dutch contestant Joost Klein was dramatically booted out by organizers over a backstage incident. He had failed to perform at two dress rehearsals on Friday, and contest organizer the European Broadcasting Union said it was investigating an "incident."
From London, to Mildmay, Collingwood and St. Thomas, here are some highlights of Friday night and Saturday morning's northern lights display.
A growing number of civilians and police officers are demanding the dismissal and arrest of Haiti's police chief as heavily armed gangs launched a new attack in the capital of Port-au-Prince, seizing control of yet another police station early Saturday.
Irresponsibly using a credit card can land you in financial trouble, but personal finance columnist Christopher Liew says when used properly, it can be a powerful wealth-building tool that can help grow your credit profile and create new opportunities.
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
A man who was accused of sexually and physically assaulting a woman had his charges dropped in April, just weeks before he was set to stand trial in Toronto, due to a lack of judges in the region.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.