In a New York civil fraud lawsuit, former President Donald Trump and his real estate company say a judge will ban Trump from operating any business in the state for three years and impose $364 million in penalties and interest. facing significant legal setbacks. Trump's sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump were also found liable and banned from serving as directors of New York companies for two years.
In a three-month trial, New York Attorney General Letitia James alleges that President Trump defrauded Deutsche Bank and other lenders into giving him favorable terms on hundreds of millions of dollars in annual financial statements for more than a decade. He claimed that the asset values in the documents had been inflated.
The documents at the center of the New York fraud case purportedly show that President Trump's net worth grew by up to $3.6 billion annually from 2011 to 2021. The state says the values were inflated by counting luxury homes and other improvements that don't yet exist. ; valuing the land as if there were no restrictions on development; And it will be counted as cash income that President Trump has no control over.
For years, Trump claimed he had tripled the square footage of his Trump Tower penthouse apartment and was worth more than $300 million, until he was called out by Forbes magazine.
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The main basis for the fine was the $168 million Trump saved by lying about his assets and lowering interest rates on four loans. That also included a $127 million gain from the Old Post Office hotel deal in Washington and a $60 million gain from the sale of New York's Ferry Point Golf Course. The state says it could not have purchased the property without inflating its value. assets. This amount also includes the restitution of bonuses paid to employees involved in the misconduct.
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The 92-page verdict by Judge Arthur Engoron in Manhattan is a threat to President Trump's real estate empire and the latest legal setback for the Republican front-runner as he seeks a return to the White House.
Trump's lead lawyer in the case, Christopher Kise, said in a statement that the fine was “severe and unconstitutional” and the sentence was a “tyrannical abuse of power.”
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This is not the first time Trump's business interests have been thwarted by New York's attorney general. In November 2016, then-President-elect Trump agreed to pay $25 million to settle a state civil fraud lawsuit against Trump University, which had been accused of defrauding thousands of students.
(Using information from Bloomberg)
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