Manhattan DA Hires Forensic Experts in Trump Org. Probe

New York prosecutors have hired forensic accounting experts to hunt "for anomalies among a variety of property deals" by the Trump Organization, The Washington Post reported.

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office is investigating whether President Donald Trump's businesses might have inflated the value of assets to get favorable interest rates and tax breaks, a source told the Post.

District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.'s investigation began in 2018 to probe alleged hush payments to two women who claimed to have affairs with Trump before he was a candidate. He has since expanded the investigation to find other alleged improprieties.

FTI Consulting will conduct the forensic probe into the Trump Organization's accounts and assets.

"We provide the industry's most complete range of forensic, investigative, data analytic and litigation services," the FTI corporate brochure reads, per the Post, hailing its "extensive experience serving leading corporations, governments, and law firms around the globe."

President Trump and the Trump Organization have rebuked the investigation as a political witch hunt and political "harassment" of the president.

Vance, a Democrat, has long sought eight years of Trump's tax records and other financial information, a source told the Post.

"You have a very high-profile person who is polarizing, and then you also have a district attorney who is elected," Association of Certified Fraud Examiners' Jason Zirkle told the Post. "You can't ignore those facts, and that they're both of different political parties."

Another Democrat operative, New York Attorney General Letitia James, has been conducting an investigation into the president and his businesses.

Experts note any finding of wrongdoing of the Trump Organization will require finding "intent" to break the law, according to the report.

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