Angela Weiss Agence France-Presse Donald Trump, his sons and their real estate empire Trump Organization are the target of a civil complaint from the State of New York for financial fraud.
France Media Agency in New York
January 5, 2024
- United States
New York State is seeking $370 million in compensation from former U.S. President Donald Trump, his sons and their Trump Organization real estate empire in a civil suit alleging financial fraud, documents show. judicial published Friday.
That's far more than the $250 million that state Attorney General Letitia James requested in her fall 2022 complaint. That request sparked the ongoing civil lawsuit for financial fraud before the New York court where Donald Trump and his sons Donald Jr and Eric have testified since last October.
Reacting immediately on his social network Truth Social, the Republican billionaire campaigning for the November presidential election, once again attacked Letitia James, elected representative of the Democratic Party, that he accuses her of being “corrupt” and leading a “witch hunt”.
” I did not do anything wrong. My financial statements are good and very prudent,” Donald Trump assured again on Friday.
With his sons and their Trump Organization family group, they are accused by New York civil justice of having colossally inflated the value of skyscrapers, luxury hotels and golf courses during the 2010s at the heart of their empire, to obtain more favorable loans from banks and better insurance conditions.
“Banana Republic”
Since the start of the trial in Manhattan on October 2, the 77-year-old businessman has railed against justice each time he comes to court, denouncing a “witch hunt” or a “trial worthy of a banana republic.” . After attacks on his clerk, Judge Arthur Engoron banned Donald Trump from speaking about his team and fined him twice totaling $15,000 for violating the order.
His lawyers denounce a legally empty file.
Contrary to the criminal trials awaiting him this year, including that for his alleged maneuvers aimed at reversing the result of the November 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump does not risk prison time in this civil case.
Even before the opening of the proceedings, Judge Engoron had estimated at the end of September that the prosecution presented “conclusive evidence that between 2014 and 2021, the defendants overvalued the assets” of the group of “812 million [to] $2.2 billion” depending on the year, in the figures on Donald Trump’s annual financial statements.
As a result of “repeated fraud,” he ordered the liquidation of companies managing these assets, such as the Trump Tower on Manhattan's 5th Avenue and the 40 Wall Street skyscraper.
Measures however suspended by an appeal court.
The trial concerns several other crimes, such as insurance fraud, and the financial penalties claimed by the State of New York, which is now asking for 370 million dollars and no longer 250 million in the complaint initial.
Judge Engoron remains to close the proceedings this month and determine the amount of damage and reparations.