A Judge in New York has found Donald Trump and his adult sons liable for fraud and cancelled the business certification of Trump Organization, saying the Trumps submitted false financial statements for around a decade.
The ruling of Judge Arthur Engoron came days before the civil case that involved the New York Attorney General’s office and Trump was set to go to trial.
Engoron granted the motion of Attorney General Letitia James for summary judgment, finding Trump, his sons, and others “to be liable as a matter of law for persistent violations” of New York state law.
He found the financial statements the Trumps submitted to lenders and insurers for almost a decade to be false and said they repeatedly perpetrated fraud.
The decision is a blow to the former President and a total rejection of his arguments that he didn’t doctor the values of his golf courses, hotels, homes at Mar-a-Lago and Seven Springs on financial statements that were repeatedly used in business.
In a recent statement, James said: “Today, a judge ruled in our favour and found that Donald Trump and the Trump Organization engaged in years of financial fraud. We look forward to presenting the rest of our case at trial.”
The Attorney General sought a ban on the Trumps from serving as officers of a business in New York, $250 million in damages and to stop the company from engaging in business transactions for five years.
The business certifications of the Trump entities that are defendants in the case were cancelled by the Judge who said a receiver will be put in place to “manage the dissolution” of the corporate entities.
Two New York properties are part of the lawsuit, the commercial tower at 40 Wall Street and the Trump family compound at Seven Springs.
Engoron revealed that Trump is accused of tripling the value of his triplex apartment at Trump Tower, resulting in an overvaluation of between $114 million and $207 million.
Engoron wrote: “A discrepancy of this order of magnified, by a real estate developer sizing up his own living space of decades, can only be considered fraud.
“Exacerbating defendants’ obstreperous conduct is their continued reliance on bogus arguments, in papers and oral argument. In the defendants’ world: rent-regulated apartments are worth the same as unregulated apartments; restricted land is worth the same as unrestricted land; restrictions can evaporate into thin air; a disclaimer by one party casting responsibility on another party exonerates the other party’s lies …”
The judge added: “That is a fantasy world, not the real world.”
The New York Supreme Court judge likened the legal defence of Trump’s fraudulent financial statements to a Chico Marx line in the comedy “Duck Soup”: “Well, who ya gonna believe, me or your own eyes?”
In a statement, Trump condemned the ruling and accused Engoron of “doing the bidding” of James, as he campaigns to return to the White House.
Trump said: “It is a great company that has been slandered and maligned by this politically motivated Witch Hunt. It is very unfair, and I call for help from the highest Courts in New York State, or the Federal System, to intercede. THIS IS NOT AMERICA!” Trump continued.
Trump’s attorney Christopher Kise described the ruling as “completely disconnected from the facts and governing law.”
He added: “While the full impact of the decision remains unclear, what is clear is that President Trump and his family will seek all available appellate remedies to rectify this miscarriage of justice.”
In a tweet, Eric Trump said: “Today, I lost all faith in the New York legal system. Never before have I seen such hatred toward one person by a judge – a coordinated effort with the Attorney General to destroy a man’s life, company and accomplishments. We have run an exceptional company – never missing a loan payment, making banks hundreds of millions of dollars, and developing some of the most iconic assets in the world. Yet today, the persecution of our family continues…”
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