Trump faces $429 million fine
Donald Trump was accused yesterday of ‘‘astounding’’ fraud to ‘‘obtain incredible economic benefit . . . in stark violation of the law’’ in a civil lawsuit seeking to ban him from business in New York and fine him US$250 million (NZ$429 million).
Letitia James, the New York state attorney-general, is not only seeking to bar the former president from serving as a company officer or director in the state for life, but also his three eldest children, Don Jr, Ivanka and Eric, as well as two senior staff.
A 280-page lawsuit accuses them of more than 200 instances of manipulating property values involving offices, golf courses and Trump’s New York apartment, and making numerous false financial statements over a tenyear period from 2011. James, 63, an elected Democrat, said that she would share details with state criminal authorities who were carrying out a parallel investigation, and also the federal Department of Justice (DOJ).
That increases the sense of a legal net slowly closing around Trump, 76, the first US president to survive two impeachments in Congress but who faces legal jeopardy on several fronts including the DOJ investigation into the January 6 riot last year, another into his retention of classified government documents, and a 2020 election interference case in Georgia.
EJ Carroll, a woman who accuses Trump of raping her more than two decades ago, said she would bring a case against him under a New York law passed in May giving sexual assault victims a one-time opportunity to file civil lawsuits, even in cases where the statute of limitations had expired.
James said that Trump may have committed criminal acts including falsifying business records, issuing false financial statements, insurance fraud, conspiracy and bank fraud. ‘‘This investigation revealed that Donald Trump engaged in years of illegal conduct to inflate his net worth, to deceive banks and the people of the great state of New York,’’ James told a press conference in the city. ‘‘Claiming you have money you do not have is not The Art of the Deal, it is the art of the steal,’’ she added, referencing Trump’s book.
There should not be two justice systems, ‘‘one for everyday working people and one for the elite’’, James said, concluding: ‘‘No one is above the law.’’
Liz Harrington, a spokeswoman for Trump, wrote on his social media site Truth Social: ‘‘A tale of two justice systems – yes where criminals go free, and the Democrats only go after their political opponents!’’
James set out evidence that Trump ‘‘falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself and to cheat the system, thereby cheating all of us’’ with the help of his three eldest children, the Trump Organisation chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg and the comptroller Jeffrey Mcconney.
The Trump Organisation is set to go on trial next month in a criminal case alleging untaxed perks for executives, including Weisselberg, who took more than US$1.7 million in extras. He pleaded guilty last month, and is required to testify at the company’s trial before he starts a fivemonth jail sentence.
James said Trump and the Trump Organisation ‘‘repeatedly and persistently manipulated the value of assets to induce banks to lend money to the Trump Organisation on more favourable terms than would otherwise have been available to the company, to pay lower taxes, to satisfy continuing loan agreements and to induce insurance companies to provide insurance coverage for higher limits and at lower premiums’’.
She gave the example of Trump’s property at 40 Wall Street where independent valuers put its worth at US$220 million in November 2012. In Trump’s 2011 financial statement, he listed it at US$524 million.
Trump’s triplex apartment on Fifth Avenue in New York, which he allegedly claimed as 30,000 sq ft, was ‘‘less than 11,000 sq ft, something that Mr Trump was well aware of’’, she said.
James is also seeking to replace the trustees of Trump’s revocable trust, which controls his business interests, with independent trustees, to bar Trump and the Trump Organisation from entering into commercial real estate acquisitions for five years and from obtaining loans from banks in New York for five years.
In a statement on his Truth Social platform, Trump called the lawsuit ‘‘Another Witch Hunt by a racist Attorney General’’.
Alina Habba, a lawyer for Trump, called the lawsuit ‘‘meritless’’ and accused James of abusing her authority.
The former president has relocated to Florida but must still respond to the New York civil lawsuit, James said, and compensate the taxpayers of the state.
– The Times