Former US president Donald Trump will appear in a New York court as
a civil fraud trial against him and two of his sons kicks off, with the case
threatening the Republican’s business empire as he campaigns to retake the
White House.
In Monday’s case, Judge Arthur Engoron has already ruled that Trump
and his sons Eric and Don Jr committed fraud by inflating the value of the real
estate and financial assets of the Trump Organization for years.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is now seeking $250 million
in penalties and the removal of Trump and his sons from management of the
family empire.
Trump said late Sunday he planned to be present for the start of
the trial on Monday morning.
“I’m going to Court tomorrow morning to fight for my name and
reputation,” the 77-year-old wrote on his Truth Social platform. “This whole
case is a sham!!!”
In addition to this civil case, Trump also faces several major
criminal proceedings in the months ahead.
He is scheduled to appear before a federal judge in Washington on
March 4 on charges of trying to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential
election won by Joe Biden.
Trump will then be back in New York state court, this time on
criminal hush money charges, and later in a Florida federal court, where he is
accused of mishandling classified documents after leaving office.
Finally, he will also have to answer to state charges in Georgia,
where prosecutors say Trump illegally tried to get the southern state’s 2020
election results changed in his favor.
In the New York civil case, Engoron ruled that Trump, his two
eldest sons and other Trump Organization executives lied to tax collectors,
lenders and insurers for years in a scheme that exaggerated the value of their
properties by $812 million to $2.2 billion between 2014 and 2021.
As a result, the judge revoked the business licenses that allowed
the Trump Organization to operate some of its New York properties.
Actually enforcing such penalties would be “a major blow to Donald
Trump’s ability to do business in the State of New York going forward,” Will
Thomas, a professor of business law at the University of Michigan, told AFP.
Under that kind of pressure, Trump – who made his reputation and
fortune as a real estate mogul in the 1980s and had promised to bring his
cut-throat industry tactics to the Oval Office – could eventually lose control
over many of his company’s flagship properties, such as his 5th Avenue Trump
Tower in Manhattan.
According to Attorney General James, a Democrat, Trump’s own
apartment in that building is among the spaces that were fraudulently
overvalued – it was listed as three times bigger than its true size.
Another Manhattan building, at 40 Wall Street, was overvalued
between $200-$300 million in financial disclosures, James alleges.
Trump’s luxury Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida – the site of the
classified documents drama – and several other Trump Organization golf clubs
also appear in James’s complaint.
Trump has repeatedly dismissed the New York civil allegations,
calling James, who is Black, “racist,” and labeling Engoron “deranged.”
On his Truth Social platform, Trump claimed there was no “wrongdoing”
in his actions of “fully paying back sophisticated Wall Street Banks in full,
with interest, with no defaults, and with no victims.”
Trump’s children Eric, Don Jr and his oldest daughter Ivanka – who
was initially also targeted by James’s complaint but ultimately not prosecuted –
are also likely to present their own testimony.
Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen – now an outspoken critic of
the former president – and officials from certain Trump-linked financial
institutions are also expected to appear.
AFP
