NY prosecutor says Trump inquiry now 'criminal'
The New York lawyer general's office says it really is investigating the Trump Business "in a criminal capacity".
A good spokesman for the state's top prosecutor, Letitia James, said the inquiry into Mr Trump's home company was "no more purely civil".
Ms James has been scrutinizing the ex-Republican president's financial dealings before he took office.
The Trumps deny wrongdoing and say the inquiry by a Democratic prosecutor is a political vendetta.
Ms James' spokesman, Fabien Levy, told the BBC on Tuesday: "We've informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the Organization is no more purely civil in aspect.
"We are actually actively investigating the Trump Group in a criminal capacity, together with the Manhattan DA. We've no additional comment."
The statement didn't say what turned the inquiry from civil to criminal in nature, or whether the former president himself could be personally implicated in virtually any allegations.
Ms James released a good civil inquiry in March 2019 into claims that Mr Trump had inflated the worthiness of his resources to banks when searching for loans, and understated them to lessen his taxes.
Her office in addition has seeking documents on several Trump Organization properties in Manhattan, upstate New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr said in court papers previous August that his business office was investigating alleged "protracted criminal carry out" at the Trump Business.
Mr Vance's legal filing cited newspaper articles about purported lender and insurance fraud at the business.
The Manhattan district lawyer in addition has been investigating whether some of Mr Trump's financial records were doctored to hide hush-money payments to two ladies in 2016 who say that they had affairs with him.
Mr Vance's business office said in February it had obtained Mr Trump's taxation statements within the investigation, after an extended legal battle.
