Trump’s Trial: How Much Damage Could This Trial Do?
On Monday, Donald Trump and his family business are scheduled to stand trial in New York in a civil fraud case that could deliver a significant setback to the former president’s real estate empire.
Letitia James, the Democratic attorney general of New York, accuses Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, of misrepresenting the value of his assets by billions of dollars to obtain better loan and insurance terms.
Trump intends to attend the opening week of the trial in Manhattan state court, according to a court filing in an unrelated case.
The trial begins a week after the presiding judge found Trump liable for fraud and will focus primarily on the penalties he must face.
James is seeking a minimum of $250 million in penalties, a permanent prohibition on Trump and his sons Donald Jr. and Eric from conducting business in New York, and a five-year restriction on the commercial real estate activities of the Trump Organization.
Trump has stated that the investigation is a political witch-hunt.
Last week, Justice Arthur Engoron ruled that James had proved her fraud case against Trump, his two adult sons, and ten of his companies.
Engoron described in withering detail how valuations were determined. This included Trump calculating the value of his Trump Tower condominium as if it were three times larger than it actually was.
“A variance of this magnitude by a real estate developer calculating his own living space over decades can only be considered fraud,” he stated. Trump Tower and his golf facilities.
The ruling affects a small fraction of Trump’s roughly 500 assets, including some of his most valuable properties. The specifics of how this order will be implemented have not yet been determined, but Trump’s finances would be severely harmed by the loss of these prized assets. If Engoron imposes additional penalties and business restrictions, the harm will increase.
The trial is expected to last until early December. More than 150 individuals, including Trump, are listed as potential witnesses, but the majority of the trial will likely consist of financial document experts arguing their positions.
James asserts that Trump amassed hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains by “grossly” misrepresenting the values of his assets in order to obtain more favorable terms from lenders and insurers.
James stated that this included designating his Mar-a-Lago club and residence in Florida as being worth up to $739 million despite deed restrictions capping its value at $28 million.
Trump confronts a number of legal obstacles as he campaigns to retake the White House in the 2024 election. Although they have been a financial burden, none of his opponents for the Republican nomination have been able to diminish his commanding lead.
Trump is the first incumbent or former president of the United States to be indicted in four separate cases.
In Florida, he has been charged for his handling of classified documents after leaving office; in Washington, D.C., for his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election; in Georgia, for efforts to overturn election results in that state; and in New York, for payments he made to a pornographic performer.
In all four cases, Trump has denied misconduct and pleaded not guilty.
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