De Blasio says NYC ‘looking to recoup’ money from Trump after tax story

by Emily Birnbaum - 10/03/18 2:52 PM ET

New York mayor Bill de Blasio (D) on Wednesday said the city is “looking to recoup” money from President Trump after a bombshell New York Times investigation revealed the president and his family used shady financial maneuvers to avoid paying millions of dollars in taxes.

De Blasio, who who often spars with the president, on Monday warned that Trump could face civil penalties over the instances of fraud outlined in the Times report, according to Bloomberg News.

{mosads}”It’s clear to me that there are real ramifications right now to what has been disclosed, either potential violations of law, or in cases where the statute of limitations has ended that there may be very serious civil penalties that can be applied by both the state and the city,” de Blasio said.

“The city of New York is looking to recoup any money that Donald Trump owes the people of New York City, period,” he added, according to the news outlet.

New York state tax officials on Tuesday launched a review into allegations laid out in the Times article, which reported Trump engaged in “dubious tax schemes” in the 1990s that helped him accrue millions of dollars in wealth from his father’s real estate business.

De Blasio in his Wednesday remarks pointed to Trump’s history as a notorious New York businessman, saying he “evaded the kind of regulation and investigation and prosecution he should have received many times over.”

The two-term mayor called the Times investigation an “indictment of the culture of New York City.”

“There was a good old boy network that obviously Donald Trump played like a fiddle,” de Blasio said.

Though the statute of limitations has passed for many of the alleged schemes by Trump and his family, there is no time limit on civil penalties for tax fraud, the Times noted.

Trump on Wednesday blasted the article as a “hit piece” but did not deny any of the allegations. His lawyer called the article “100 percent false.”

After an investigation that lasted for more than a year, the Times reported Trump and his siblings set up a “sham” corporation to help disguise otherwise taxable income that came from gifts from their parents.

The newspaper gained access to more than 100,000 documents revealing insight into the Trump family’s financial records. The records ultimately showed Trump helped undervalue his father’s real estate holdings, leading to a lower tax bill when he and his siblings inherited the properties. The Times wrote that some of Trump’s behavior amounted to “fraud.”

The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance was already investigating the Trump Foundation over potential tax law violations, according to a Times report in July.