Judge slams door on Trump’s latest attempt to hide financial  documents

An attempt by Donald Trump to keep New York Attorney General Letitia James from accessing Trump Organization financial documents was shut down last Friday despite the best efforts of his new accounting firm.

According to a report from the Daily Beast's Jose Pagliery, after the former president's previous accounting firm, Mazars, stepped aside, the Trump Org moved its business to Texas firm Whitley Penn in an apparent attempt to take advantage of the state's privacy laws.

The documents at the center of the gambit are central to James' $250 million fraud lawsuit, expected to go to trial in October, which could bankrupt the company if the former president loses.

According to the report, Whitely Penn has been refusing to turn over the documents, with Pagliery writing that the accounting firm's lawyer wrote a letter claiming it was bound by “constraints imposed by confidentiality obligations” as prescribed by Texas law. In addition, the lawyer contended they could only turn over the documents "if the Trump Organization consents” or if the New York AG's got a judge to order them to do so.

Which is exactly what James' office did.

"New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur F. Engoron—a judge who has grown exasperated at Trump’s delay tactics and had to intervene half a dozen times to force the former American president to comply with the most basic legal processes—issued an order Friday compelling Whitley Penn to turn over the relevant documents," the Beast is reporting. "And so on April 7, Engoron weighed in yet again—this time signing off on an agreement between the AG’s office and Trump’s lawyers that permits the accounting firm to turn over records—and get a certified public accountant to answer investigators’ questions."

Pagliery added that on "April 7, Engoron weighed in yet again—this time signing off on an agreement between the AG’s office and Trump’s lawyers that permits the accounting firm to turn over records—and get a certified public accountant to answer investigators’ questions."

You can read more here.