by Donald Trump and his co-defendants in a sprawling civil case alleging years of fraud within his real estate empire should be forced to pay more than $370 million and effectively banned from doing business in New York, according to the U.S. attorney general. state.
Several lengthy final briefs filed in New York County Supreme Court on Friday summarize the arguments of Trump’s lawyers, as well as Attorney General Letitia James’ long-running case and arguments against the former president and his top associates, who They faced a 44-day trial stemming from his successful lawsuit against them.
The documents arrive a week before final arguments in the case. Judge Arthur Engoron is expected to issue a decision in late January.
The pretrial ruling effectively ordered the dissolution of Trump’s New York-based real estate empire, which the former president has called a “corporate death penalty” against him.
That order was put on hold pending appeal while the trial takes place in lower Manhattan.
On Friday, James’ office added several other sanctions to his request, including “lifetime injunctions” barring Trump and former Trump Organization executives Allen Weisselberg and Jeffrey McConney from “participating in the real estate industry.” in the State of New York or serve as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity are necessary and appropriate.”
Evidence collected by his office, expert testimony and courtroom testimony from Trump himself, as well as his adult sons and co-defendants Donald Trump Jr and Eric Jr, are “conclusive,” according to the filing.
The evidence proves “numerous overt acts by Weisselberg, McConney, Trump, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump in furtherance of the conspiracy to falsify business records and the conspiracy to issue false financial statements,” the brief states.
James’ lawsuit accuses Trump and his co-defendants of defrauding banks and other financial institutions by inflating their net worth and assets in annual statements of financial condition (documents at the center of the case) to secure favorable financing terms for some. of its stars. properties.
Judge Engoron’s pretrial ruling found the defendants liable for fraud, leaving a trial to determine what they owe and whether the attorney general is successful in six other claims against them, including insurance fraud and conspiracy.
James initially sought $250 million in so-called “ill-gotten gains” that Trump and others received as a result of favorable financing terms.
His new figure in the sanctions outlined Friday comes from testimony from a star financial expert who claimed that Deutsche Bank, the former president’s former main lender, lost tens of millions of dollars in interest that lenders should have charged if they based those terms on financial documents that accurately captured Trump’s net worth.
“The defendants obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains through their illegal conduct,” according to the document from James’ office.
“That misconduct occurred under the watch” of current Trump Organization officials Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., “who perpetuated the scheme” to inflate those financial documents, the attorney general’s office said.
And “under his command,” the company’s then-chief financial officer, Mr. Weisselberg, and controller, Mr. McConney, “confessed to multiple acts related to tax fraud, and a jury convicted the company of that.” same criminal conduct.”
They were allowed to remain on the payroll and were rewarded “with lucrative severance packages that restricted their ability to cooperate with law enforcement investigations, rather than immediately terminating their employment,” according to the attorney general’s office.
James’ office has asked the judge to appoint an independent monitor “to closely monitor the company for at least the next five years” and “impose permanent statewide industrial bans” against Trump, Weisselberg and McConney, with bans of five years. against Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.
A filing by a Trump family attorney maintains that the trial did not prove that Trump and his children “had anything more than peripheral knowledge of or involvement in the creation, preparation or use” of those allegedly fraudulent financial statements.
“Accordingly, the court should rule in favor of Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump, dismissing this action against them in its entirety,” according to a document from attorney Clifford Robert.
Ms. James’s office “unfortunately has failed to prove its case and is not entitled to any of the relief sought in this action,” the defendants’ attorneys argued.
Any error in accounting “occurs all the time” and, if it does not indicate fraud such as “concealment, falsification or deception, then there is no basis to determine that these [statements of financial condition] are fraudulent and any error is simply an accidental error,” the attorneys wrote.
Lawyers will return to Judge Engoron’s courtroom on Jan. 11 to present closing arguments in the case, which Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly tried to dismiss entirely.
The case is one of several legal challenges Trump faces as he seeks the Republican nomination for president, and one that takes aim at the narrative of his financial success that built his political persona in the first place.
Trump, who is not required to attend any of the proceedings, sat with his lawyers for several days of the trial. He has also used news cameras pointed outside the courthouse doors to rage against the case, his political opponents, the judge, the attorney general, witnesses and court staff.
Judge Engoron issued two gag orders in the case after Trump and his lawyers attacked his chief clerk, and a state appeals court upheld the orders after the lower Manhattan court was inundated with death threats.
