A New York judge, Arthur Engoron, recently ruled that former President Donald Trump and his business associates committed fraud, dating as far back as 2011, by misrepresenting the financial valuation of their business assets. The judge’s verdict was in favor of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ motion for partial summary judgment.
The ruling further orders the dissolutions of any of the implicated business entities controlled or beneficially owned by Trump and his associates. The fraudulently inflated valuations, as found in the financial documents submitted by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) of New York, suggested all five defendants, including Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, and Trump Organization Controller Jeffrey McConney, to bear responsibility.
The review covered a broad spectrum of Trump-owned properties as reported in financial filings from 2011 to 2021. Trump was accused of inflating the financial valuation of these properties between $812 million and $2.2 billion annually. Judge Engoron subsequently concurred with Attorney General James’ allegations.
In response to the decision, the court ordered the cancellation of any certificates permitting Trump, his business partners, and associated entities to operate within New York. To ensure compliance with the court order, an independent monitor was appointed. An independent monitor had previously been assigned to prevent further fraudulent acts during the pendency of the case.
James’ civil lawsuit against Trump and his organization was filed under New York Executive Law § 63(12), allowing the New York Attorney General to investigate and halt the business practices of any person committing repeated fraudulent or illegal acts in business dealings.
Pleading not guilty, Trump’s legal team endeavored to invalidate James’ suit, but their claims were rapidly dismissed by the judge. Attempting to shift liability to his accountancy firm, Mazar, Trump found no success. The court, instead, placed the responsibility of accuracy squarely on Trump’s side. Several other procedural arguments brought forth by Trump’s legal team against James’ motion were also dismissed.
In addition, Trump’s legal team was sanctioned for “frivolous motion practice”, incurring a $7500 fine for each attorney involved in filing the motion. This is only one out of seven causes from James’ civil lawsuit and it is expected to proceed to trial along with Trump’s other legal challenges which include four ongoing criminal cases and another New York civil case.
More detailed information could be found on the original article from JURIST News.