A judge found former US President Donald Trump and two of his sons responsible for financial fraud by inflating assets of their family business for years to obtain better loan terms and other financial benefits.
Judge Arthur Engoron agreed with the New York State Attorney’s Office headed by prosecutor Letitia James, who last week requested a partial summary judgment on the main charge in the case: that of fraud against Trump, his sons Donald Jr. and Eric , the Trump Organization and several partners, leaving six other crimes to be resolved in the trial scheduled next Monday.
As happened in each of the judicial accusations he has in hand, the former Republican president used his social network Truth Social to allege that everything is a “witch hunt.” “If I didn’t run for president and win, none of these politically motivated lawsuits would happen! Does anyone realize that after years and years, all of this is happening right in the middle of my campaign?” Trump said. And he added: “We will take back the White House and make America great again!”
“This is a fantasy world”
In the document, Engoron considered that the Prosecutor’s Office “demonstrated (that there is) responsibility” on the part of the defendants, who also include Allen Weisselberg and Jeffrey McConney, two former executives of the Trump Organization, and ordered that the licenses be canceled. everyone’s business in New York. 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.
Engoron also noted that the tycoon made statements that multiplied by three the actual size of his apartment in Trump Tower and believes that a “discrepancy of such magnitude, by a real estate developer exaggerating his own living space for decades, can only be considered fraud”.
The overvaluation of the company’s assets was between $1.9 billion and $3.6 billion each year, according to James. “In the world of the defendants (Trump and his children): rent-regulated apartments are worth the same as unregulated apartments; restricted land is worth the same as unrestricted land,” the judge said. “This is a fantasy world, not the real world,” he said.
Against the ropes
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, an issue that is expected to be addressed in next week’s trial.
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, Trump faces 91 charges against him in four states. 40 of them are related to the alleged handling of classified documents in his Florida mansion; 34 with alleged illegal payments to a porn actress during his presidential campaign, in New York; 13 with the state racketeering law in Georgia for attempting to overturn the 2020 election results; and 4 other accusations in Washington DC linked to the same issue, for their false allegations that there was electoral fraud and multiple deceptive maneuvers.
If the Republican magnate were to be convicted in Washington and Florida before next year’s elections and win, he could try to pardon himself. However, that power does not extend to the Georgia and New York cases, because they are state processes. The US president can only grant pardons for federal crimes.
2023-09-27 22:26:04
#United #States #Donald #Trump #responsible #financial #fraud #president #judicial #complication
