Donald Trump faces lawsuit over rent 'fraud scheme' affecting 14,000 New York tenants

US President Donald Trump is facing charges of 'fraud' once he loses the immunity granted to him as in charge of the White House and Commander-in-Chief of the US military. At least 20 people, who lived in apartment complexes owned by Trump's father, have filed a lawsuit against him and his siblings seeking damages for the extra rent paid by them due to a fraudulent scheme. The plaintiffs have accused Trump and his family of falsifying invoices for over a decade that forced them to pay more than what they actually needed to pay.

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The lawsuit was filed on October 2 in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn after a 2018 New York Times investigation revealed the invoice-padding scheme involving President Trump, sister Maryanne, a former federal judge, and brother Robert, who died earlier this year. The lawsuit also involves the name of the President's first cousin John Walter, who worked for the Trumps' and was also the Mayor of Flower Hill, New York. Walter died in 2018 after a year-long battle with cancer.

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How they defrauded tenants?

According to the New York Times investigation, the Trumps' and John Walter falsely increased the prices of materials purchased for the apartments up by 20 to 50 percent in invoices, which in turn increased the rents of the tenants living in those complexes. The plaintiffs accuse that the scheme started in 1992 lasted until 2003, a year before the Trumps' sold the apartment complexes, which they inherited from their father Fred Trump. The scheme helped the Trumps' evade estate taxes and also generated millions of dollars for each person. 

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President Trump, who currently enjoys immunity from being prosecuted, will lose the protection when his term ends on January 20, 2020. And the matter will become even worse if the lawsuit, filed by 20 plaintiffs, win approval of class-action status, which will make every person, who paid rent since 1992 across the 14,000 apartments owned by the Trumps', eligible for compensation if a judgment comes in favour of the tenants. 

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(Image Credit: AP)