Judge Arthur Engoron considers that by bragging and outright lying about his assets, Trump was able to obtain favorable contracts, lower interest rates on loans and lower insurance premiums for his companies.
According to the judge, Trump and his associates inflated their assets by several billion dollars.
“Fantasy world”
In the 35-page decision, Engoron wrote that the defendants painted a “fictional world” in which, among other things, they greatly exaggerated the value of the Trump family’s properties. For example, the former president’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida was said to be worth $739 million, or 8.1 billion kroner. This is more than ten times the real value.
In addition to the former president, sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, as well as CFO of the Trump Group of Companies Allen Weisselberg and CEO Jeff McCone, were named in the decision.
Unsurprisingly, Trump does not share the judge’s conclusions.
“My civil rights were violated and the Court of Appeals, whether state or federal, must overturn this terrible anti-American decision,” Trump wrote in a post on his private media platform, Truth Social.
“A very sad day for the New York justice system!”
Trump’s legal representative announced shortly after the decision was announced that he would appeal.
We want to see a billion fines
The judge’s decision comes just days before the start of the trial in this case – on Monday, October 2. Engoron’s ruling applies to the main point of the civil case, but six other points remain, including that Trump understated the value of assets to cut taxes.
The head of the state Department of Justice, Letitia James, wants to see a fine of $250 million, equivalent to more than 2.7 billion kroner, on Donald Trump. It also wants to ban the Trump family from “operating businesses in New York forever” and bar the family and Trump companies from buying property in the state for five years.
When the lawsuit was filed in September last year, Donald Trump angrily commented on the ad, also on Truth Social. Among other things, he accused Letitia James, who is black, of being a “racist.”
The trial is believed to continue until December.
In addition to the civil case in which a first judgment was reached, four major criminal charges have been brought against former President Donald Trump. In addition, a number of civil and financial disputes are ongoing.
Washington, DC
Donald Trump was indicted in early August for attempting to overturn the results of the presidential election. The federal indictment is the heaviest among the ongoing legal proceedings, as the four charges relate to the storming of the Capitol building in January 2021. The investigation is led by Special Prosecutor Jack Smith.
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Mar-a-Lago, Florida
Trump was indicted last June on 37 counts primarily related to the former president’s handling of classified and sensitive government documents stored at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after his time in the White House. This investigation is also federal and is being led by Jack Smith. The trial is scheduled to take place in May next year, just six months before the presidential election in which Trump wants to run.
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Accounting crimes in New York
The indictment, filed in March, includes 34 counts against Donald Trump, who is accused of, among other things, soliciting payments to people who threatened to release sensitive information about him in connection with the 2016 presidential campaign. The trial in the state case is scheduled for March 2024. .
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State of Georgia
The indictment covers 19 people, including Donald Trump, and relates to attempts to overturn the election results in Georgia by, among other things, spreading rumors and false voters. In the middle is a phone call Trump made to the state’s election commissioner, Brad Raffensperger, in which the then-president asked him to “find the 11,780 votes” needed to defeat Joe Biden there.
“Unapologetic writer. Bacon enthusiast. Introvert. Evil troublemaker. Friend of animals everywhere.”
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