A New York judge has ruled that former President Donald Trump and his company, the Trump Organization, “repeatedly” violated state fraud law. The ruling came in response to a request by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is currently pursuing a $250 million civil lawsuit against Trump and his family. The judge agreed with James’ claim that Trump and his company provided banks with financial statements that misrepresented his wealth by up to $3.6 billion. The ruling requires the defendants’ New York business certificates to be canceled and mandates the recommendation of independent receivers to oversee the dissolution of the canceled LLCs.
The upcoming trial, scheduled for October 2, will focus on allegations of falsification of business records, issuing false financial statements, insurance fraud, and conspiracy. Both sides had sought summary judgments from the judge, with James’ office requesting the ruling delivered on Tuesday. The Trumps’ legal team argued that many of the loans in question were too old to be considered. The Trumps and their company have denied any wrongdoing and accused James, a Democrat, of pursuing them for political reasons. Trump’s legal spokesperson called the judge’s ruling “fundamentally flawed” and stated that they would appeal.
During the motion hearings, it was revealed that Trump signed off on false statements of financial condition that portrayed his properties as being worth significantly more than their actual appraised value. Trump’s attorney argued that these valuations demonstrated Trump’s “investment genius.” However, the judge pushed back on this argument, stressing that false statements are prohibited by law. In addition to the fraud allegations, the New York attorney general also sought sanctions against Trump’s legal team for repeatedly making arguments that had already been rejected by the court. The judge ruled in favor of the attorney general, imposing a fine of $7,500 each on five attorneys involved in the case.