Former US President Donald Trump arriving at Trump Tower in New York on April 12, 2023 (AFP / Kena BETANCUR)
Former US President Donald Trump returns to New York on Thursday to be heard in a civil trial over fraud at his group, the Trump Organization, a week after he was criminally charged in a separate case. .
In this civil case, New York State Attorney General Letitia James is suing Donald Trump and three of his children, seeking $250 million in damages for tax and asset valuation fraud. of the group.
“I will be going to downtown (New York) to meet a racist who leaked that I will be there at 9:30 a.m.,” wrote Donald Trump about the prosecutor, elected under the Democratic label and who is Afro -American.
Requested by AFP this week, the services of the Attorney General had not confirmed this hearing, which could take place in her offices.
Donald Trump had already been heard under oath in August by the prosecutor and had remained silent. New York justice has already set the trial for October 2, 2023.
The former president, who hopes to return to the White House in 2024, called the case “ridiculous”, “just like all the other cases of election interference that I am subject to”.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James accuses the Republican billionaire and his children of “deliberately” manipulating the valuations of the group’s assets, which includes golf clubs, luxury hotels and other properties — to get better loans from banks or reduce taxes.
This case is separate from the criminal case in which Donald Trump was indicted last week for 34 alleged accounting and tax frauds, linked to payments to cover up three embarrassing cases before the 2016 presidential election, including a sexual relationship with the actress. movies X Stormy Daniels that he has always denied.
This indictment is a first for a former US president.
