🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
Donald Trump said he will attend the start of his civil trial at a New York court as part of Attorney General Letitia James' $250 million lawsuit against him and his real estate company.
In a post on Truth Social, the former president said he will be at the court to "fight for my name and reputation" after he was accused by James' office of fraudulently inflating the value of his properties and assets by billions of dollars for years to obtain financial perks and loans.
The majority of the claims in James' lawsuit have been resolved after Judge Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing the trial, ruled on September 26 that the former president had misled banks and insurers by inflating the value of his properties in his financial statements. The civil trial will now mainly determine the size of the penalty.
"I'm going to Court tomorrow morning to fight for my name and reputation against a corrupt and racist Attorney General, Letitia James, who campaigned on 'getting Trump,' and a Trump Hating Judge who is unfair, unhinged, and vicious in his PURSUIT of me," Trump wrote.
"He values Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, at 18 Million Dollars, when it is worth 50 to 100 times that amount. His valuations are FRAUDULENT in pursuit of Election Interference, and worse. THIS WHOLE CASE IS A SHAM!!! See you in Court—Monday morning."
In his ruling last month, Engoron noted how Trump valued his Mar-a-Lago resort between 2011 to 2021 at $347 million to $739 million based on the premise that it was unrestricted property and could be developed for residential use.
During this same period, the resort was assessed by Palm Beach County as having a market value based on its restricted use as a social club ranging between $18 million and $27.6 million—a valuation which have been condemned by Trump and his two sons, Eric and Donald Trump Jr., who are also named in James' suit. The former president claimed during his under oath deposition in April that the resort could be worth as much as $1.5 billion based on "broker talk."
Engoron added that Trump's inflated assessment of his properties, which also include his golf courses and his triplex apartment at Trump Tower in Manhattan, came from a "fantasy world, not a real world."
Trump once said in financial statements that his New York apartment was worth $327 million, based on claims it was nearly 30,000 square feet in size, when it was actually 10,996 square feet.
James' office previously described the value claim as "absurd" given that at that point only one apartment in New York City had ever sold for even $100 million.
Engoron also ruled that Trump and his two adult sons have their New York business certificates canceled, essentially barring them from running their real estate properties in the city. The decision could also see the former president's companies and assets—including Trump Tower, where he announced his intention to run for president after coming down a golden escalator in June 2015—being removed from his control and dissolved.
While James is seeking a $250 million fine for Trump for filing fraudulent financial statements for years, the size of the penalty will be decided by Engoron, a judge whom the former president has often accused of being "deranged" on social media.
Michael Cohen, a former Trump lawyer whose 2019 congressional testimony triggered James' investigation, previously told CNN he estimates that the judge could fine Trump as much as $600 million when taking into account interest and penalty—an amount Cohen say may result in the former president being forced to declare bankruptcy.
Update 10/2/23, 3:25 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with further information.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, and Florida ... Read more