The civil trial of Donald Trump and two of his children, accused of having colossally inflated their real estate assets for years, opens Monday, October 2 in New York, as a prelude to a legal marathon for the Republican favorite in the 2024 presidential election. The former president announced Sunday evening that he intended to be present at the opening arguments before the Supreme Court of the State of New York, where he is called as a witness.
“I am going to court tomorrow morning to fight for my name and my reputation,” said the ex-real estate mogul in a message posted late in the evening on the Truth Social platform, in which he describes the New York attorney general as “corrupt” and the judge in the case as “unbalanced.” “This whole thing is a sham!!!! “, he also wrote.
“Repeated frauds”
Donald Trump cannot be sentenced to prison in this case, but the trial will offer a foretaste of the legal events likely to disrupt his campaign for the Republican nomination.
Criminally charged in four different cases, which have so far not undermined his popularity with the Republican base, Donald Trump must appear in federal court in Washington from March 4. He is accused of trying to reverse the result of the 2020 presidential election won by Joe Biden.
He will then have an appointment with the New York State justice system for accounting fraud, then in Florida for his negligent management of confidential documents after his departure from the presidency.
The trial which opens on Monday took a particular turn last week when Judge Arthur Engoron, who presided over it, considered that “repeated fraud” had been established and that the New York State Attorney General’s Office had has already demonstrated that Donald Trump and his group’s staff had “overvalued” their assets between $812 million and $2.2 billion from 2014 to 2021.
$250 million fine
As a result, Mr. Engoron ordered the removal of the New York business licenses of Donald Trump and two of his children, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., executive vice presidents of the Trump Organization, and the forfeiture of the companies targeted by the complaint, so that they can be entrusted to liquidators.
If implemented, these sanctions would deal “a major blow to Donald Trump’s ability to do business in New York State,” said Will Thomas, professor of business law at the University of Michigan.
Donald Trump, who made his fortune in real estate and casinos in the 1980s and had promised to run the United States like his companies, would then lose control over several of his group’s flagships, such as the Trump Tower on 5th Avenue. , in Manhattan. These properties are at the heart of prosecutor Letitia James’ accusations: the surface area of the businessman’s triplex in Trump Tower would have been tripled and the building at 40 Wall Street overvalued by $200 million to $300 million in financial statements.
The Trump Organization’s luxury residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, and several golf courses also appear in the filing. The prosecutor is also seeking recognition of other violations of financial laws and a fine of $250 million.
Dozens of witnesses expected
Donald Trump has always brushed aside the accusations and multiplies the attacks against the prosecutor James, an elected African-American Democrat whom he called “racist”, and Judge Engoron, whom he describes as “deranged”. On his Truth Social network, he argued that the lending banks had been repaid, “totally, with interest, without defaults and without victims”. The defense also intends to fight head to head on asset valuations.
The trial promises to be technical and dozens of witnesses are expected, including three of the Trump children, Eric, Donald Jr and Ivanka, initially targeted by the complaint but ultimately not prosecuted, or the former financial director of the Trump Organization, Allen Weisselberg , who served time in prison after pleading guilty to tax fraud in another case targeting the group.
Among the witnesses also include Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who has become one of his sworn enemies, as well as employees of lending banks or the Mazars accounting firm, which decided in 2021 to no longer working with the Trump Organization.