NY attorney general seeking $370 million from Trump and co-defendants in civil fraud trial
Originally Published: 05 JAN 24 13:09 ET Updated: 05 JAN 24 13:17 ET By Kara Scannell, Lauren del Valle and Jeremy Herb, CNN
(CNN) — The New York attorney general is seeking more than $370 million from Donald Trump and his co-defendants and to bar the former president from doing business in the state, according to a post-trial brief filed Friday in Trump’s civil fraud trial.
New York Attorney General Letitia James argued that Trump and his co-defendants’ intent to defraud while preparing the former president’s financial statements was “inescapable,” seeking the repayment of $370 million in disgorgement, or “ill-gotten gains.”
“The myriad deceptive schemes they employed to inflate asset values and conceal facts were so outrageous that they belie innocent explanation,” the attorney general wrote.
Judge Arthur Engoron has already ruled in a summary judgment ruling finding that Trump and his co-defendants were liable for persistent and repeated fraud. He also ordered the cancellation of Trump’s business certificates in New York. Trump has appealed that decision and the court has paused dissolving the companies.
Trump’s attorneys on Friday argued that Engoron should reject the allegations against Trump, writing in their briefs that most of the transactions in the attorney general’s complaint were beyond the statute of limitations, that Trump’s statements of financial condition did not contain material misstatements, and that the attorney general did not demonstrate any real-world impact.
“There is no evidence in the record that the terms or pricing of any of the subject loans would have been different based on the purported misstatements alleged by Plaintiff,” Trump’s lawyers wrote. “Not a single witness from any bank (or anywhere else) testified to this at trial.”
The post-trial briefs filed Friday set the stage for closing arguments before Engoron next week. The judge could issue his ruling as soon as later this month.
Engoron has already rejected several of the arguments from Trump’s attorneys, including challenges to the statute of limitations and disgorgement, finding that both were legally appropriate.
The 11-week trial was conducted to determine how much the Trumps and their company must pay and the fate of the former president’s business in New York. The attorney general’s office sought to prove six additional claims against Trump, including conspiracy, issuing false financial statements, falsifying business records, and insurance fraud.
If Trump’s attorneys had hoped their arguments during the trial had swayed the judge to change course from his initial ruling, Engoron made clear he was unconvinced last month in a scathing denial of the former president’s attempt to toss the case.
In the three-page opinion denying the motion for a directed verdict to dismiss the case, Engoron wrote that the experts called at trial by Trump’s attorneys were not credible and that the defense’s key arguments were unconvincing.
Trump’s attorneys made clear repeatedly at the trial they plan to appeal Engoron’s ruling, on top of the appeal that’s already been filed after his summary judgement decision.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
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