New York State Tax Department reviewing Trump tax scheme allegations

New York state tax officials have launched a review into allegations in a New York Times article that President Trump participated in “dubious tax schemes” in the 1990s that helped him earn additional wealth from his father’s real estate business.

“The Tax Department is reviewing the allegations in the NYT article and is vigorously pursuing all appropriate avenues of investigation,” a spokesman from New York State Department of Taxation and Finance said in an email to The Hill. 

{mosads}The statement from the department came just hours after The New York Times published an exhaustive report detailing some of the president’s business dealings. 

Among other things, the report said that Trump received the equivalent of $413 million based on questionable tax dealings and that his behavior amounted to fraud in multiple cases. 

The Times also reported that Trump and his family committed “outright fraud” when Trump’s father transferred millions from his real estate empire to his children in order to not pay the appropriate amount of taxes.

Trump declined to comment to the Times for the story. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.

Charles Harder, an attorney for the president, said in statement to the Times that the allegations of fraud and tax evasion were “100 percent false.”

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

It is unclear what Trump Foundation activities are under investigation. But the Times noted that it may be linked to the lawsuit that New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood (D) brought against Trump and the Trump Foundation in June.

The lawsuit is accusing Trump of using the foundation to illegally support his 2016 presidential bid. It also alleges that the charity created an illegal in-kind donation of more than $2.8 million to his campaign.

Investigators issued a subpoena for Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, in August as part of the probe.