A New York judge has found Donald Trump and his adult sons liable for fraud and canceled the Trump Organization’s business certification, saying the Trumps provided false financial statements for roughly a decade.
Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling came days before the civil case involving the New York attorney general’s office and the former president was set to go to trial.
Engoron granted Attorney General Letitia James’ motion for summary judgment, finding Trump, his sons, and others “to be liable as a matter of law for persistent violations” of New York state law. He found the financial statements the Trumps provided to lenders and insurers for about a decade to be false and said they repeatedly engaged in fraud.
The decision is a blow to Trump and a complete rejection of his arguments that he didn’t inflate the values of his golf courses, hotels, homes at Mar-a-Lago and Seven Springs on financial statements that were repeatedly used in business.
Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling came days before the civil case involving the New York attorney general’s office and the former president was set to go to trial.
Engoron granted Attorney General Letitia James’ motion for summary judgment, finding Trump, his sons, and others “to be liable as a matter of law for persistent violations” of New York state law. He found the financial statements the Trumps provided to lenders and insurers for about a decade to be false and said they repeatedly engaged in fraud.
The decision is a blow to Trump and a complete rejection of his arguments that he didn’t inflate the values of his golf courses, hotels, homes at Mar-a-Lago and Seven Springs on financial statements that were repeatedly used in business.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 A New York judge has found Donald Trump and his adult sons liable for fraud and cancelled
00:05 the Trump Organization's business certification, saying the Trumps provided false financial
00:11 statements for roughly a decade.
00:14 Judge Arthur Engueron's ruling came days before the civil case involving the New York
00:19 Attorney General's office and the former president was set to go to trial.
00:24 Engueron granted Attorney General Letitia James motion for summary judgment, finding
00:30 Trump, his sons, and others to be liable as a matter of law for persistent violations
00:36 of New York state law.
00:38 He found the financial statements the Trumps provided to lenders and insurers for about
00:43 a decade to be false and said they repeatedly engaged in fraud.
00:48 The decision is a blow to Trump and a complete rejection of his arguments that he didn't
00:53 inflate the values of his golf courses, hotels, homes at Mar-a-Lago and Seven Springs on financial
00:59 statements that were repeatedly used in business.
01:03 "Today, a judge ruled in our favor and found that Donald Trump and the Trump Organization
01:09 engaged in years of financial fraud," James said in a statement Tuesday night.
01:14 "We look forward to presenting the rest of our case at trial."
01:19 The Attorney General has sought $250 million in damages, a ban on the Trumps from serving
01:26 as officers of a business in New York, and to stop the company from engaging in business
01:31 transaction for five years.
01:34 The judge canceled the business certifications of the Trump entities that are defendants
01:38 in the case, including the Trump Organization, and said a receiver will be put in place to
01:44 manage the dissolution of the corporate entities.
01:48 There are two New York properties that are part of the lawsuit, the Commercial Tower
01:52 at 40, Wall Street and the Trump Family Compound at Seven Springs.
01:58 However, the full breadth of his ruling remains unclear.
02:02 Questions remain as to how the receiver would dissolve the properties, if the ruling would
02:07 impact properties located outside of New York State, including Mar-a-Lago, and if the Trumps
02:13 could transfer the New York-based assets into a new company located out of state.
02:20 Judge calls defendants' arguments "bogus."
02:23 Among other things, Trump is accused of inflating the value of his triplex apartment at Trump
02:28 Tower by three times its size, resulting in an overvaluation of between $114 million to
02:36 $207 million, Ingerolln wrote.
02:40 A discrepancy of this order of magnified by a real estate developer sizing up his own
02:45 living space of decades can only be considered fraud, Ingerolln wrote.
02:51 Exacerbating defendants' obstreperous conduct is their continued reliance on bogus arguments
02:57 in papers and oral argument, Ingerolln wrote.
03:02 In defendants' world, rent-regulated apartments are worth the same as unregulated apartments,
03:08 restricted land is worth the same as unrestricted land, restrictions can evaporate into thin
03:14 air.
03:15 A disclaimer by one party casting responsibility on another party exonerates the other party's
03:21 lies, the judge added.
03:24 That is a fantasy world, not the real world.
03:28 The state Supreme Court judge likened the Trumps' legal defense of his fraudulent financial
03:32 statements to a Chico Marx line in the comedy Duck Soup.
03:36 Well, who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?
03:41 Trump condemned the ruling in a statement, accusing Ingerolln of "doing the bidding of
03:45 James" as the former president campaigns to return to the White House.
03:51 It is a great company that has been slandered and maligned by this politically motivated
03:56 witch hunt.
03:57 It is very unfair, and I call for help from the highest courts in New York State, or the
04:03 federal system, to intercede.
04:06 This is not America.
04:08 Trump continued.
04:10 Trump's attorney Christopher Kyes called the ruling "completely disconnected from the facts
04:15 and governing law."
04:17 He added, "While the full impact of the decision remains unclear, what is clear is that President
04:23 Trump and his family will seek all available appellate remedies to rectify this miscarriage
04:29 of justice."
04:31 In a statement on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Eric Trump said, "Today,
04:37 I lost all faith in the New York legal system.
04:41 Never before have I seen such hatred toward one person by a judge, a coordinated effort
04:46 with the Attorney General, to destroy a man's life, company, and accomplishments.
04:52 We have run an exceptional company, never missing a loan payment, making banks hundreds
04:58 of millions of dollars, developing some of the most iconic assets in the world.
05:04 Yet today, the persecution of our family continues."
05:08 James has alleged that Trump, three of his children, his companies and his business executives
05:14 defrauded lenders, insurers and other entities.
05:19 An appeals court dismissed Trump's eldest daughter, Ivanka, as a co-defendant from the
05:24 case in June.
05:26 In the lawsuit, James claims that Trump reaped a substantial financial benefit by putting
05:32 forward faulty information in his financial statements, including $150 million in the
05:38 form of favorable interest rates he obtained from TH.