Week In a Nutshell, 2/18/22

February 18, 2022 | Updated Feb 22 2023

Week In a Nutshell, 2/18/22

Travis McMichael, left, speaks with his attorney, center, during his sentencing, along with his father Greg McMichael and neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan. (Photo by Stephen B. Morton-Pool/Getty Images)

By Jake Kaplan

Here are some of the legal news stories making headlines this week:

Former President Donald Trump’s longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA, has severed ties with him in response to ongoing investigations into the Trump Organization.

In a letter to Trump, Mazars said that the firm will no longer work with Trump, and that Trump’s financial statements from 2011-2020 “should no longer be relied upon.” “While we have not concluded that the various financial statements, as a whole, contain material discrepancies, based upon the totality of the circumstances, we believe our advice to you to no longer rely upon those financial statements is appropriate,” Mazars continued.
On Tuesday, Trump released a statement denouncing the investigation. “Mazars’ decision to withdraw was clearly a result of the A.G.’s and D.A.’s vicious intimidation tactics used — also on other members of the Trump Organization. Mazars, who were scared beyond belief, in conversations with us made it clear that they were willing to do or say anything to stop the constant threat which has gone against them for years,” Trump said.
The Mazars letter was disclosed in a court filing by New York Attorney General Letitia James. James is conducting a civil investigation into whether Trump overvalued his properties. Meanwhile, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is conducting a parallel criminal investigation.
James has been investigating Trump’s business dealings for over two years. She is currently seeking testimony from Trump and his children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump. On Thursday, a federal judge in Manhattan rejected an effort by the Trumps to quash the subpoenas and depositions.
Thus far, James has alleged that Trump offered misleading valuations for his properties, including, among others, Trump’s apartment in Trump Tower, golf clubs in New York and Scotland, and the “Trump Brand.” For example, James asserts that Trump represented the size of his Trump Tower apartment as 30,000 square feet, but that the apartment is actually 10,996 square feet. James alleges that the misrepresentation artificially inflated the valuation of the apartment.

The federal hate crimes trial started for the three men who were convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery.

In April 2021, a grand jury indicted Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael, and William “Roddie” Bryan on one count of a federal hate crime and one count of attempted kidnapping. Gregory and Travis McMichael were additionally charged with using a firearm during the crime. Travis McMichael shot and killed Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, in February 2020, while Arbery was jogging in a suburban Georgia neighborhood.
In November 2021, a Georgia state jury convicted all three men of murdering Arbery. They were later sentenced to life in prison.
Recently, the McMichaels planned to plead guilty to the federal charges after reaching an agreement with prosecutors, which reportedly would have permitted them to serve the first 30 years of the sentence in federal prison. However, U.S. District Judge Lisa Wood rejected the terms of the deal since it did not give her any discretion in the sentencing. All three men are now standing trial.
During the state trial, prosecutors notably avoided mentioning race as a motive for the killing. Preet Bharara recently spoke with the lead prosecutor in the case on Stay Tuned. In the federal trial, however, race will be a key factor since the crux of the prosecution’s argument is that McMichaels and Bryan targeted “Arbery, an African American man, because of Arbery’s race and color.”
During the prosecution’s opening statement, DOJ civil rights attorney Bobbi Bernstein said, “The evidence in this case will prove that if Ahmaud Arbery had been white, he would have gone for a jog, checked out a house under construction, and been home in time for Sunday supper. Instead, he went out for a jog, and he ended up running for his life. Instead, he ended up bleeding to death, alone and scared, in the middle of the street.”