New York Attorney General Letitia James asked the New York Supreme Court to sanction former President Donald Trump, his two eldest sons, and other associates with a $20,000 fine for “previously-rejected arguments” in legal motions.
The move is related to Ms. James’ $250 million civil fraud suit against the former president and his associates over allegedly false and misleading valuation of his business assets by billions of dollars.
The Democrat prosecutor accused the former president’s legal team of making the same argument five times, despite being rejected by the courts three times already.
Ms. James said that the state court rejected those arguments a second time, partially for being “borderline frivolous” and criticized the defendants’ “sophisticated” counsel, saying that they “should have known better.”
The two motions that have not been denied are yet to be ruled on, as they were only filed in August.
Democrats Pursue Trump Before Election
Former President Trump, who is running for the White House again in 2024 and the leading GOP candidate, has denied any wrongdoing, as well as three of his children who were named in the original lawsuit.He has called the multiple cases brought against him by Democrat prosecutors part of a politically motivated witch hunt.
The former president has made the indictments a centerpiece of his 2024 presidential campaign.
Ivanka Trump, President Trump’s daughter, saw her charges dismissed by an appeals court in June, after originally being included in the civil suit.
On Aug. 30, Ms. James’ office asked the state court to determine if the defendants inflated asset values and used those exaggerated figures to defraud banks and insurers in order to receive benefits.
She alleged that the former president and his organization had fraudulently inflated his personal net worth by between $812 million to $2.23 billion every year since 2011.
“Mr. Trump, and in some years the trustees of his revocable trust, submitted these grossly inflated SFCs to banks and insurers to secure and maintain loans and insurance on more favorable terms, reaping hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-gotten savings and profits.”
She accused his company of engaging in “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation in the preparation of Mr. Trump’s annual statements of financial condition.”
The charges include deceiving insurers, tax officials, and lenders by allegedly inflating the value of the former president’s properties, including his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
“Based on undisputed evidence, no trial is required for the Court to determine that Defendants presented grossly and materially inflated asset values … repeatedly in business transactions to defraud banks and insurers,” the filing continued.
Ms. James said the former president should be found liable for fraud without a trial and that he and his sons should be removed from leading their family business, in addition to the $250 million fine.
Judge Refuses Delay
On Sept. 6, Judge Arthur Engoron rejected the former president’s appeal to delay Ms. James lawsuit, which is scheduled for Oct. 2.Citing a recent appellate court decision, the former president’s legal team argued that many of the transactions the lawsuit was referring to were inadmissible because of a statute of limitations.
They accused Ms. James of “callous disregard” of a June 27 appeals court decision, which prevented her from suing over loans he received far too long ago, which limited many of her remaining options before the trial.
His lawyers requested that the trial be “briefly” delayed for three weeks, so the judge could rule on both sides’ requests for summary judgments to avoid a trial.
However, Judge Engoron called the arguments for a delay “completely without merit.”
In another legal development this week, a federal judge found former President Trump liable for defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll for denying allegations of sexual assault against her in 2019.
The judge said that jurors will decide how much he owes in damages.
President Trump has been indicted four times in the past five months, including on racketeering and conspiracy charges following his efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia on the basis of voter fraud.
He was previously booked at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta on Aug. 24, after surrendering himself to authorities following his indictment.
President Biden’s Justice Department has also pursued the former president over his alleged mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate and the controversy over the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol breach.
