In addition to a possible $370 million in damages, Donald Trump might be permanently barred from the New York real estate market.
Judge Arthur Engoron heard closing arguments from both parties on Thursday in the former president Donald Trump New York civil fraud trial. Judge Engoron will render a decision on the matter by January 31st.
In an effort to get more loans and benefits, the state attorney general’s office claimed that Trump had inflated his net worth by over $1 billion. Trump, however, maintained his innocence and disparaged both the attorney general and the judge.
The trial is a bench trial without a jury, starting on October 2 and concluding in mid-December. As a result, Trump might have to pay up to $370 million in damages and face a lifetime ban from the New York real estate market, where he made his name.
During his attorneys’ final arguments, Trump startled the court by asking to speak for a brief while, arguing that he was the party most impacted by the case. A similar request had been made by his attorney, Chris Kise, via email on Wednesday, but the court had turned it down when both Kise and Trump declined to refrain from making personal jabs in their remarks.
The judge reluctantly agreed to let Trump speak for up to five minutes on Thursday, but instructed him to “focus on the facts” of the case. Trump began speaking without permission after ignoring the judge’s advice.
“I’m an innocent man in this situation,” Trump told the judge. “I should be compensated for the hardships I have endured.”
“This isn’t fraud against consumers,” Trump added. “This is not a scam. It’s a sham on my part.
In addition, Trump insulted the attorney general, Letitia James, who was present in court, as well as the judge.
I am aware that you find this uninteresting. At one point, while seated at the defense table, Trump aggressively stated to the judge, “I know you have your own agenda.” He claimed James “hates” him and “doesn’t want him to get elected,” referring to the legal proceedings as a “persecution.” Kise was cautioned by the judge to “please control your client.”
‘Mr. Donald Trump violated the law’
After the hearing, James told reporters that the issue “has never been about politics.”
She declared, “The facts and the law are what matter in this case, and Mr. Donald Trump broke the law.”
Kevin Wallace and Andrew Amer, the attorneys from the AG’s office, provided proof that Trump’s financial statements were “false every year” for a total of “over a billion dollars” between 2011 and 2021. According to Wallace, the main questions of the trial were “what did the defendants know and when did they know it?” and whether or not they had the intention to distort their yearly financial statements as a part of a plot.
“Did they know it? And the answer is yes,” Wallace said.
Amer provided numerous instances of what he described as deliberate deception.
The former President also claimed his Trump Tower triplex apartment was three times its size, and estimated value, and Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg signed off on a financial statement that continued to value the apartment at over $300 million even after he’d been alerted it was 10,000 square feet instead of 30,000.
Amer stated, “That begs the question of fraudulent intent.”
Trump left before the AG’s office made its final remarks. At the same time, he had a press conference at his neighboring 40 Wall St. home. James is a “political hack,” he told the reporters there, adding that “we’ve proven the case so conclusively.”
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