The beleaguered Trump Organization, already charged with one criminal conspiracy, is facing a new probe: this time, focused on one the company's New York golf courses.
Former President Donald Trump's sprawling business empire was already served with an indictment in Manhattan for allegedly dodging taxes on millions in employee perks — and is now facing new allegations that it misled local officials in Westchester County about the value of its golf club in order to reduce its tax liability, according to The New York Times.
Both the Trump National Golf Club Westchester and the nearby town of Ossining have fielded subpoenas from the County's district attorney's office. The paper acknowledged that it could not determine the full scope of the investigation, though it spoke with several people who confirmed that Westchester DA Mimi E. Rocah is looking into the company's tax practices and valuation.
The New York Times also reported that the Trump Organization's repeated challenges to property assessments on its Westchester golf club have prompted an outcry among locals. " In 2017, demonstrators from the town marched to the club and chanted "Pay your share." That year, assessors valued the property's value at $15 million dollars, while lawyers for the club cited their own estimate that the club was worth less than a tenth of that amount — just $1.4 million. Trump himself declared that the property was worth more than $50 million earlier this year on a financial disclosure form.
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Rocah, a Democrat, has been a critic of Trump in the past, telling the Westchester Journal News in 2019 that "we have a criminal in the White House" during a discussion of Trump's dealings with Ukraine and his possible impeachment.
On Wednesday the Trump Organization released a statement to The Hill, saying "the suggestion that anything was inappropriate is completely false and incredibly irresponsible. The witch hunt continues,"
RELATED: Trump's Scottish golf courses may soon be at center of their own "McMafia Law" investigation
This isn't the first time Trump's golf courses have been the subject of legal investigation, either In August of this year, activists pushed for a "McMafia" legal order that would have required Trump to disclose the financial origin of his "all-cash purchases and development of his two Scottish golf resorts."
Trump is also the subject of an investigation in Manhattan and by state Attorney General Letita James for potential financial and tax improprieties, including failing to pay taxes on employee perks like cars and apartments. Trump attacked the Attorney General this May for assisting in the Manhattan case, saying in a blog post that "There is nothing more corrupt than an investigation that is in desperate search of a crime." His attempts to overturn election results in Georgia last year are also under criminal investigation.
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