Following b extensive investigation, The New York Times made the claim on Tuesday, yet the findings were unlikely to open Trump up to criminal prosecution.

Most of the money Trump received from his father’s real estate empire in the 1990s came through tax dodges.

The figure would amount to at least $413 million in today’s dollars.

As Trump has refused release his tax returns, unlike any of his predecessors, the Times had to examine a "trove of confidential tax returns and financial records."

A Trump attorney, Charles Harder, released a statement, claiming that the report was "100% false and highly defamatory."

The Trumps paid some $50 million in taxes after their parents transferred in total more than $1 billion in wealth to their kids, an amount that could have generated as much as $550 million in tax revenue.

The president's brother, Robert Trump, also issued a statement, claiming that "all appropriate gift and estate tax returns were filed, and the required taxes were paid."

"Our father's estate was closed in 2001 by both the Internal Revenue Service and the New York State tax authorities, and our mother's estate was closed in 2004," he added.

According to the newspaper’s investigation, “By the time he was 3 years old, Trump was earning $200,000 a year in today's dollars. By the time he was 8, he was a millionaire.”

The report questions Trump’s frequent claim that he is a self-made billionaire.

KD