Former President Donald Trump’s longtime accounting firm has dropped the family business as its client amid New York Attorney General Letitia James’ multiple escalating investigations into whether Trump overvalued his assets in financial statements.
On Feb. 9, accounting firm Mazars USA’s William Kelly sent a letter to Trump Organization executive vice president and chief legal officer Alan Garten notifying him of the firm’s decision to cut ties with the company. Mazars also said that the financial statements it prepared for Trump between June 30, 2011, and June 30, 2020, “should no longer be relied upon.”
The letter was included in a court document filed Monday by James’ office, and reveals that Trump’s accountants are essentially washing their hands of the former president by claiming they acted in good faith based on information Trump gave them.
“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,” Kelly wrote. “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.”
“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,” a Trump Organization spokesperson said. “This confirmation effectively renders the investigations by the DA and AG moot.”
The Mazars USA letter, signed by the accounting firm’s general counsel, appeared in a petition filed in the New York Supreme Court by James’ office, which is seeking to question Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump under oath as part of the attorney general’s investigation.
Donald Trump’s lawyers asked a judge to prohibit the questioning, to which the attorney general’s office argued in court documents last month that the Trump Organization engaged in “fraudulent or misleading” practices.
Mazars USA’s letter could help James in her investigation, which has focused partly on the financial statements and whether they overvalued Donald Trump’s various properties, such as his hotels and golf clubs.
