President Donald Trump. (Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)

A state agency confirmed on Tuesday that it is reviewing claims of tax fraud against President Donald Trump in the wake of an article published in the New York Times.

The Times reported, among other things, that Trump's family created a company to siphon money from his father to him and his siblings over time to avoid paying millions in taxes.

The alleged transfers happened in the 1990s and have passed the point of the criminal statute of limitations, but civil claims could still be brought against the scheme, the Times reported.

A spokesman for the state Department of Taxation and Finance said it is still reviewing the claims laid out by the Times.

“The Tax Department is reviewing the allegations in the NYT article and is vigorously pursuing all appropriate avenues of investigation,” the spokesman said.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also said Tuesday evening that the city's tax officials were reviewing the claims and would work with the state as necessary.

“I've directed NYC's Department of Finance to immediately investigate tax and housing violations and to work with NY State to find out if appropriate taxes were paid,” de Blasio said in a tweet.

The article alleges that Trump's family used a company called All County Building Supply & Maintenance to transfer money to Donald Trump and his siblings over a number of years. The company was used by Fred Trump, the president's father, to pay vendors in the real estate industry and other costs. The invoices for the company would then be padded, with the extra money flowing to Fred Trump's children.

The scheme allegedly allowed the money to be given to Donald Trump and his siblings without having to pay any gift tax, which would have reduced the amount significantly.

One part of the scheme alleges the Trumps padded invoices to fraudulently show capital improvements at apartment buildings in New York City. Showing capital improvements to properties is one way to justify rent increases to the city. The article said the Trumps were able to raise the rent on tenants while also passing money through All County to Donald Trump and his siblings.

The family set up another company, called Apartment Management Associates Inc., to do the same thing with fees, according to the article. By 1998, each of Fred Trump's children were generating $2.2 million from the scheme, according to the article. The elder Trump died in 1999.

The Trumps devised other schemes to skirt paying taxes while maximizing revenue, the article claimed.

In one example, Trump and his father claimed that a set of buildings was valued at $13.2 million rather than the $90.4 million they previously claimed the properties were worth, the Times said. That reduced the tax payments on the buildings when they were transferred out of another family member's name.

In another situation, Trump and his family claimed that one building was worth $17.1 million. When Trump's brother, Fred Jr., died 18 days later, they then claimed the building was worth $2.9 million to avoid the high tax bill that would come with it.

Charles Harder of Harder LLP is quoted in the article as Trump's attorney. He did not respond immediately to a request for comment on the possible state investigation into the claims, but told the Times that “the allegations of fraud and tax evasion are 100 percent false, and highly defamatory.”

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Tuesday evening that the claims of fraud were baseless.

“Fred Trump has been gone for nearly twenty years and it's sad to witness this misleading attack against the Trump family by the failing New York Times. Many decades ago the IRS reviewed and signed off on these transactions,” Sanders said. “The New York Times' and other media outlets' credibility with the American people is at an all time low because they are consumed with attacking the president and his family 24/7 instead of reporting the news.”

The review adds to a criminal inquiry by the state Department of Taxation and Finance into Trump and his charitable foundation, the Trump Foundation. The agency has, so far, not referred criminal charges to New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood's office for prosecution. The office needs a referral from an agency to start a criminal investigation of its own.

Underwood's office, meanwhile, has an ongoing civil lawsuit against Trump and his children over the Trump Foundation. Attorneys for the state claim in the lawsuit that Trump's 2016 campaign colluded with the charitable organization on a political event and that Trump used it to pay for personal expenses.

Underwood is seeking $2.8 million in restitution from the foundation and a 10-year ban on Trump serving as a director of a nonprofit in New York state, among other penalties. The next conference in that case is scheduled for Oct. 11.

Trump and the foundation are represented by Alan Futerfas, a white-collar attorney in Manhattan. He did not immediately respond to an inquiry for comment. A request for comment sent to the Trump Organization was also not immediately returned.

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