New York judge finds Donald Trump liable for fraud




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A New York judge has found Donald Trump and his adult sons liable for fraud, saying Trump provided false financial statements for nearly a decade.

Judge Arthur Engoron’s decision came days before the trial of a civil case involving the New York Attorney General’s office and the former president.

Engoron granted Attorney General Letitia James’ motion for summary judgment, finding Trump, his sons and others “liable as a matter of law for persistent violations” of New York state law. They found the financial statements Trump provided to lenders and insurers for nearly a decade were false and said he repeatedly engaged in fraud.

The decision is a blow to Trump and completely refutes his arguments that he did not inflate the values ​​of his golf courses, hotels, Mar-a-Lago and Seven Springs homes on the financial statements, which are included in the business. Was used repeatedly.

The attorney general is seeking $250 million in damages, a ban on Trump from acting as an officer of any business in New York and barring the company from engaging in business transactions for five years.

Among other things, Trump is accused of inflating the value of his triplex apartment in Trump Tower to three times its size, resulting in an overvaluation of between $114 million and $207 million, Angoron wrote.

“The anomaly of this order by a real estate developer to enlarge his own living space over decades can only be construed as fraud,” Angoron wrote.

“What fuels defendants’ obstinate conduct is their continued reliance on bogus arguments in papers and oral arguments,” Angoron wrote. “In the defendants’ world: rents for regulated apartments are the same as for unregulated apartments; Restricted land has the same value as unrestricted land; Sanctions may fly in the face; The denial of responsibility by one party to another party absolves the other party of lies ,

The judge added: “That’s a fantasy world, not the real world.”

A state Supreme Court judge compared Trump’s legal defense of fraudulent financial statements to Chico Marx’s line in the comedy “Duck Soup”: “Well, who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?”

Trump’s attorney Christopher Keyes described the decision as “completely at odds with the facts and the governing law.”

He added: “While the full impact of the decision is unclear, it is clear that President Trump and his family will seek all available appellate remedies to remedy this miscarriage of justice.”

In a statement on Twitter, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Eric Trump Said: “Today, I have lost all faith in the New York legal system. I have never seen such hatred towards an individual by a judge before – a coordinated effort with the Attorney General to destroy a person’s life, company and achievements. We have run an extraordinary company – never defaulted on loan payments, made hundreds of millions of dollars for the banks, developed some of the most prestigious properties in the world. Yet even today atrocities against our family continue…”

James alleges that Trump, his three children, his companies, and his business executives defrauded lenders, insurers, and other entities. (An appeals court in June dismissed Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka, as a co-defendant from the case.)

In the lawsuit, James claims Trump reaped “substantial” financial benefits by inserting faulty information into his financial statements, including $150 million in favorable interest rates he received from banks, which the attorney general said his team misled. Did.

In the order, the judge rejected Trump’s testimony in which the former president said the financial statements were not fraudulent because they included disclaimers. Trump said the statements included a “useless clause” warning lenders and others that they should not be trusted.

On Tuesday the judge said that “Defendants’ reliance on these ‘useless’ disclaimers is worthless.”

The verdict means the Attorney General’s Office has won its first two claims and will receive some amount to be determined in the lawsuit. The case will still proceed to trial but the Attorney General’s office will not be required to prove that the financial statements are false as they seek to hold him and his sons liable for insurance fraud and falsifying business records.

This story has been updated with additional developments.




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