On Wednesday, New York Attorney General Letita James made a request to a New York court to declare that former US President Donald Trump had inflated the value of various assets costing between $812 million and $2.2 million each year since 2011. The petition is part of James’ larger financial fraud civil case against Trump, the Trump Organization, and its senior management, including Trump’s children. The AG has asked Judge Arthur Engoron to give a summary judgment which would result in a finding of liability on the matter without a full trial. Trump has denied these claims in his testimony released on Wednesday.
To elaborate on the arguments in her motion to the New York Supreme court, James stated that based on the existing evidence, no trial is required to ascertain that Defendants presented grossly and materially inflated asset values. These inflated figures were then repeatedly used in business transactions to deceive banks and insurers. Specifically, James accuses Trump of misrepresenting the value of his assets, including golf properties, to obtain better loan rates and tax cuts.
One key property discussed in this motion is Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, Florida property, which is presently the focus of a federal criminal case over Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents. Trump is alleged to have overvalued this Florida property at between $347 million to $739 million over a span of ten years. The property’s assessed value during this period fluctuated between $18 million to $27.6 million. This suggests that Trump’s valuation was over ten times the property’s actual worth.
By leveraging the evidence collected by her investigators, James argues for summary judgment on the fraud claims, thereby resolving one of the seven claims filed in her civil suit against Trump. Trump, however, continues to deny these fraud allegations and his legal team is seeking to have the case against him dismissed entirely.
James initially began investigating the Trumps in 2019 after the former Trump attorney Michael Cohen testified that Trump and his organization used inaccurate evaluations of their assets to acquire loans and tax reductions. She formally filed a civil lawsuit against Trumps and their organization in September 2022. A hearing in the case is scheduled for September 22, with the trial slated for October.
Besides this, Trump is also facing another civil case in New York on sexual harassment charges from writer E. Jean Carroll. Additionally, Trump is confronting four criminal trials in which he has pleaded not guilty to 91 charges, varying from falsified business records to obstruction of justice.