Topline
A New York court employee has been arrested and charged after trying to approach former President Donald Trump during his civil fraud trial on Wednesday, court officials said, as Trump and his business face allegations of inflating the value of assets on financial statements for personal gain.
Former President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom with his legal team during his civil business … [+]
Key Facts
An unnamed individual “disrupted” the trial on Wednesday by “standing up and walking towards the front of the courtroom,” at which point she “yell[ed] out” to Trump “indicating she wanted to assist him,” according to a statement from Lucien Chalfen, spokesperson for the New York State Office of Court Administration.
Court officers stopped the individual before she got near Trump or any attorneys in the trial, and “none of the parties were ever in any danger,” according to Chalfen.
It was later determined that the individual was a court employee, and in addition to being charged with contempt of court in the second degree for disrupting a court proceeding, she has been placed on administrative leave and prohibited from entering any state court facilities.
Trump was at the courtroom Tuesday and Wednesday for the third week of the trial, after he attended the first three days of the trial when it got underway earlier this month.
What To Watch For
The trial is expected to continue until mid-December. It’s unclear how many more days Trump will attend the trial in person, though he is expected to testify at some point during the proceedings.
Key Background
Trump, his business associates—including his sons—and his company are on civil trial for alleged fraud, as New York Attorney General Letitia James has accused him and his company of inflating the value of their assets to obtain more favorable business deals and boost Trump’s net worth. Trump and his attorneys have strongly denied the allegations, claiming the valuations are subjective and based on the ex-president’s real estate expertise. Judge Arthur Engoron already found Trump and his co-defendants liable for fraud before the trial began, ruling they had misstated the value of their assets—including Trump’s Mar-A-Lago property—and the square footage of Trump’s Manhattan penthouse on financial documents. The trial is determining whether defendants committed other wrongdoing, such as insurance fraud and falsification of bank records, as well as whether the fraud was intentional. Engoron has already ordered the cancellation of Trump’s business certificates, though an appeals court has put that on hold, but he still could face such other consequences as a $250 million fine and being barred from running businesses in New York or making commercial real estate acquisitions for five years.
Further Reading
Judge Asks Trump To Be Quiet After Prosecutors Complain About Him Commenting On Fraud Trial (Forbes)
Trump Back In Court For New York Fraud Trial (Forbes)
Trump Keeps Attacking This Statute In N.Y. Fraud Case—Here’s Why His Claims Lack Merit (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2023/10/18/court-employee-arrested-for-disrupting-trumps-fraud-trial/