Donald Trump and his family business were found guilty of fraud in the civil lawsuit of the state attorney general, Letitia James, who accuses the former president of the United States of illegally inflate his assets and net worth.
The decision was issued by Judge Arthur Engoron of New York State Court in Manhattan.
James sued Trump in September 2022, accusing him and the Trump organization of lying for a decade on the value of your assets and your net worth to obtain better conditions on bank loans and insurance.
Trump inflated his net worth
She stated that Trump inflated his net worth by up to $2.23 billionand to an extent up to $3.6 billion, in annual financial statements provided to banks and insurers.
The attorney general stated that among the assets whose value was inflated were Trump’s estate in Mar-a-Lago (Florida), his penthouse in Trump Tower in Manhattan and several office buildings and golf courses.
In the next ten days, the defendants must recommend a maximum of three people to manage the dissolution of the companies related to those canceled licenses, according to the opinion, reviewed by EFE.
Engoron noted that Trump made statements that multiplied by three the actual size of his Trump Tower apartment and opined that a “discrepancy of such magnitude, by a real estate developer exaggerating his own living space for decades, can only be considered fraud“.
Last week, in a hearing, the judge already seemed to lean towards the arguments of prosecutors, who recalled that in a single year Trump exaggerated his assets by $2.2 billion.
Furthermore, he angrily declared that “you cannot make false statements (of financial condition) and use them in business.”
A first judicial failure
Restricting the Trumps’ ability to do business in the state was one of the goals of the complaint filed by Prosecutor James at the end of 2022, in which the authority demands a fine of 250 million dollars (228 million euros), issue that is expected to be addressed in the trial next Monday.
Judge Engoron also rejected a parallel motion by Trump’s defense, which requested that all charges be dismissed, and ordered sanctions of $7,500 for five of the former president’s lawyers.
The decision represents a double judicial blow for Trump, who despite being the clear favorite of the Republican Party for the next elections to the White House, faces a long list of cases in the coming months, which could complicate his campaign.
Aside from this case, which goes to trial in less than a week, Trump faces four different criminal cases next year that cover a total of 91 crimes. (Reuters and EFE)
2023-09-26 20:57:00
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