By The Opinion
23 Aug 2024, 01:37 AM EDT
New York Attorney General, Letitia Jamesurged an appeals court on Wednesday to uphold the nearly $500 million civil fraud judgment against Donald Trumptheir children and the Trump Organizationarguing that there is “overwhelming evidence” supporting a judge’s conclusion that The former president lied for years about his wealth while building his real estate empire.
In paperwork filed ahead of oral arguments next month, the New York attorney general’s office said the Republican nominee’s appeal is riddled with “baseless legal arguments” and ignores a mountain of trial evidence showing that he and his co-defendants engaged in “fraud and illegality on an immense scale.”
Trump faced a civil trial after an investigation launched in 2019 confirmed that his company had altered the value of several properties in order to obtain tax, insurance and bank loan benefits.
Judge Engoron determined that Trump had benefited from these better conditions after years of inflating the value of his assets.
The $454 million is a figure that combines profits obtained illegally, as well as the corresponding interest.
Also involved in the trial were the sons of former President Donald Jr. and Ericwho were ordered to pay around $10 million in liability.
James’ office asked the state appeals court to uphold a lower court’s determination that former President Donald Trump, his adult children and his company, the Trump Organization, are liable for a fraudulent scheme that inflated Trump’s net worth in up to $2.2 billion dollarsarguing that the judge “correctly ordered the defendants to return only the ill-gotten gains of their misdeeds.”
Trump had asked the First Department of the New York Appellate Division to reversed Judge Arthur Engoron’s February ruling which ordered Trump to pay $454 million for frauds that, according to Engoron, “jump off the page and shock the conscience.”
The attorney general’s office said the intermediate appeals court should reject Trump’s appeal because Engoron correctly decided that Trump and his co-defendants “They used a variety of deceptive strategies to greatly distort the values of Mr. Trump’s assets.”
Oral arguments in Trump’s appeal are scheduled for Sept. 26.
Continue reading:
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