Europe 1 10:01 p.m., April 25, 2022

Former US President Donald Trump was ordered by a New York judge on Monday to pay $10,000 a day as long as he refuses to provide accounting and tax documents as part of a civil investigation into his group.

Former US President Donald Trump was ordered by a New York judge on Monday to pay $10,000 a day as long as he refuses to provide accounting and tax documents as part of a civil investigation into his group.

"This is a major victory, a court has ruled in our favor to convict Donald Trump of obstruction," New York State Attorney General, Democrat-elect Letitia James wrote on Twitter.

Possible fraud in the tax practices of the Trump Organization

"Donald Trump must pay $10,000 a day for each day he continues to defy the court order to deliver documents to my office," said the attorney general, who has been investigating since March 2019 on possible fraud in the tax practices of the Trump Organization, which includes buildings, hotels and golf courses in particular.

"We intend to appeal," responded one of Donald Trump's lawyers, Alina Habba, in an email to AFP.

According to her, "all the documents concerned by the subpoena were produced to the Attorney General months ago".

On February 17, Letitia James had obtained that a judge of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Arthur Engoron, order the republican billionaire as well as his children Donald Jr. and Ivanka to testify under oath within the framework of this investigation, where she suspects fraudulent tax practices.

A decision against which the Trumps, who accuse Letitia James of political motivations, have already appealed.

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An overstatement of $200 million

But the court had also requested before March 31 a series of accounting and tax documents on the Trump Organization.

Faced with the Trump camp's refusal, Letitia James had again retaliated before the same Supreme Court judge, asking that the former president be held responsible for "obstruction for his refusal to comply with a court order".

The New York attorney general suspects the Trump Organization of having "fraudulently" overestimated the value of real estate properties when applying for bank loans and of having underestimated them with the tax authorities to pay less taxes.

Among the targeted assets are two golf courses, or even a luxury apartment in the Trump Tower in Manhattan which would have been declared three times larger than its real size, an overestimate of around 200 million dollars.

Letitia James can sue the Trump Organization for damages in the event of proven wrongdoing, but she cannot bring the case to criminal proceedings.

In parallel with this civil investigation, a separate criminal investigation is being conducted by the Manhattan prosecutor's office into possible financial fraud within the Trump group.

The Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, a loyal supporter of the former president, have been charged with tax evasion and have pleaded not guilty.

The trial is due to begin this year.