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Friday could be a massive day for former President Donald Trump, with final judgment possible in his New York fraud trial and the final day of evidence in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' conflict of interest hearing in Georgia.
Trump can expect to pay a very hefty fine and possibly be banned from the real estate industry in New York when Judge Arthur Engoron delivers his ruling.
Engoron has already ruled that Trump, his adult sons and his parent company, The Trump Organization, fraudulently inflated the value of their assets to obtain favorable bank loans.
Letitia James, the New York attorney general who took the case, has requested that Engoron fine Trump $370 million and ban him from the New York real estate business for life. Engeron has already stripped key Trump companies of their right to trade in New York.
Some of the companies control some of Trump's most important properties, including Trump Tower in Manhattan and his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Gregory Germain, a law professor at Syracuse University in upstate New York, told Newsweek that Trump could be the subject of criminal prosecution if his companies continue to trade. A receiver was appointed "to liquidate any properties he owned in New York," he said.
"Those determinations were stayed by the appellate division pending appeal," Germain said. "If they were to go into effect, it would be a crime for him or his entities to continue operating any businesses in New York without a business license."
James asked that Trump be banned from the real estate industry in the state for life after Engoron found that Trump fraudulently exaggerated the value of his assets to obtain bank loans.
Trump has maintained his innocence and claimed the case is politically motivated as he is the GOP front-runner in the 2024 presidential nomination.
Newsweek sought email comment from Trump's attorney on Friday.
In Georgia, a judge has to decide if Willis should be removed from the case against Trump for alleged election interference after revelations that she was in a relationship with Nathan Wade, the chief prosecutor in the case.
Willis indicted Trump and 18 other defendants of attempting to overturn President Joe Biden's win in Georgia in 2020. The former president has pleaded not guilty to all 13 charges against him and said the case is politically motivated.
Four defendants have taken plea deals and agreed to testify for the prosecution if required.
Trump's lawyers say that Willis was in a relationship with Wade when she appointed him to the high profile Trump case.
If a motion to remove Willis from the case is successful, it could delay Trump's trial well past presidential inauguration day in January 2025. If elected president, Trump would then have a number of options to postpone the case, including asking the Supreme Court to delay it until he has left office.
On Thursday, Willis gave combative testimony, when she strongly denied defense attorneys' accusations that her relationship with Wade is a conflict of interest.
Newsweek sought email comment from Willis' office on Friday.
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About the writer
Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more