Donald, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. Subpoenaed By New York AG in Trump Organization Probe

Former President Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump have been subpoenaed by New York Attorney General Letitia James' office, which is investigating the business practices of the former president's company.

James' office said in a court filing Monday that it is seeking testimony and documents from the three named in the subpoena "in connection with an investigation into the valuation of properties owned or controlled" by the Trump Organization.

News emerged last month that the attorney general was seeking to have Donald Trump testify, but it was not confirmed until Monday that James' office was also seeking information from his two eldest children in the probe.

The former president filed a lawsuit in federal court last month aimed to put a halt to the probe after James requested that he take part in a deposition on January 7.

The suit alleged that the investigation breached his constitutional rights and denounced the inquiry as a "thinly-veiled effort to publicly malign Trump and his associates." The Trumps are expected to try to have the subpoenas dismissed.

Trump Subpoeanas
Former President Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump were subpoenaed on Monday by New York Attorney General Letitia James' office, which is investigating the business practices of the Trump Organization. Above, the former... Sean Rayford/Getty Images

Messages seeking comment was left with lawyers for the Trumps and James' office.

Monday's court filing was the attorney general office's first public acknowledgement that it has previously subpoenaed Trump's testimony.

James, a Democrat, has spent more than two years looking at whether the Trump Organization misled banks or tax officials about the value of assets — inflating them to gain favorable loan terms or minimizing them to reap tax savings.

James' investigators last year interviewed one of Trump's sons, Trump Organization executive Eric Trump, as part of the probe. James' office went to court to enforce a subpoena on the younger Trump and a judge forced him to testify after his lawyers abruptly canceled a previously scheduled deposition.

Although the civil investigation is separate from a criminal investigation being run by the Manhattan district attorney's office, James' office has been involved in both. Earlier in 2021, former District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. gained access to the longtime real estate mogul's tax records after a multiyear fight that twice went to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Before he left office at the end of last year, Vance convened a new grand jury to hear evidence as he weighed whether to seek more indictments in the investigation, which resulted in tax fraud charges in July against the Trump Organization and longtime CFO Allen Weisselberg.

Weisselberg pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he and the company evaded taxes on lucrative fringe benefits paid to executives.

Both investigations are at least partly related to allegations made in news reports and by Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, that Trump had a history of misrepresenting the value of assets.

James' office issued subpoenas to local governments as part of the civil probe for records pertaining to Trump's estate north of Manhattan, Seven Springs, and a tax benefit Trump received for placing land into a conservation trust. Vance later issued subpoenas seeking many of the same records.

James' office has also been looking at similar issues relating to a Trump office building in New York City, a hotel in Chicago and a golf course near Los Angeles. Her office also won a series of court rulings forcing Trump's company and a law firm it hired to turn over troves of records.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Update 1/3/22, 1:53 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.

Trump Children Subpoenaed
News emerged last month that New York Attorney General Letitia James was seeking to have former President Donald Trump testify, but it was not confirmed until Monday that James' office was also seeking information from... Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

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