Alanna Gillis

Opinions Editor

amg7393@psu.edu

Mazars USA, Donal Trump’s long-time accounting firm, announced in a letter on February 9 that it could no longer stand behind a decade of annual financial statements that it had prepared for the Trump Organization. The firm compiled the financial statements based on documents and information given to them by the former president and his company. 

The investigation is looking into whether Trump illegally inflated the value of his assets, which he used to secure loans. There are two investigations into whether the value of Trump’s properties was exaggerated so that the lenders would provide him the best possible loan terms. 

The letter released by Mazars instructed the Trump organization to retract the statements of financial condition ranging from the year 2011 to the year 2020. Mazars noted that “as a whole”, it had not found material discrepancies between the information it was provided by the Trump Organization and the actual value of Trump’s assets. 

However, Mazars also recommended that the Trump Organization should notify anyone who received financial statements from them, that the statements should not be relied on. The company came to this conclusion based on the attorney general’s earlier findings, it’s own investigations and information the accountants received from “internal and external sources”. The company’s acknowledgement of fundamentally flawed statements was a blow to the Trump Organization’s attempt to avoid the scrutiny of its finances. For Trump, whose personal finances are intertwined with the finances of his family business, Mazars is yet another name to add to the list of companies that have broken with him. They follow the footsteps of several banks, insurers, and lawyers who have cut ties with the former president throughout the last year. 

Mazars’ work came to light due to new documents filed by the New York attorney general, Letitia James, who is seeking to question former president Trump and two of his adult children, Invanka Trump and Donal Trump Jr. This investigation would be part of her civil investigation into the family’s finances. It is currently unclear if Mazars’ break with the Trumps will have any bearing on the investigation. 

James attests, “As the most recent filings demonstrate, the evidence continues to mount showing that Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization used fraudulent and misleading financial statements to obtain economic benefits. There should be no doubt that this is a lawful investigation and that we have legitimate reason to seek testimony from Donald J. Trump, Donald J. Trump Kr. and Ivanka Trump.”

The Trump Organization released a statement after Mazars, stating that while it was disappointed in Mazars’ decision, the company viewed the letter as confirmation that the firm’s “work was performed in accordance with all applicable accounting standards and principles”. They went on to say that “such statements of financial condition do not contain any material discrepancies”. 

The company also argued that Mazars’ statement was in their favor; that the letter “effectively render the investigations by the D.A. and A.G. moot”.