NY AG Will Ask Court To Sanction Trump And His Company

Topline

The New York Attorney General will ask a state judge to sanction former President Donald Trump, the Trump Organization and other defendants as part of her $250 million civil lawsuit accusing them of fraud, her office said in a court filing Tuesday, arguing the ex-president and his allies have stymied the legal proceedings through false statements and claims that are “frivolous and without merit.”

Former President Donald Trump leaves Trump Tower to meet with New York Attorney General Letitia … [+] James for a civil investigation on August 10, 2022 in New York City.

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Key Facts

James’ office asked the court to schedule a pre-trial conference responding to answers that Trump and the other defendants had provided to the court, saying they were “deficient in a host of ways” and the AG would soon file a motion asking for the court to sanction the defendants and their counsel.

James sued Trump, the Trump Organization and other allies, including his children, for fraud in September, alleging the ex-president and his business had repeatedly misstated the value of their assets on financial documents in order to enrich themselves and obtain more favorable business deals.

The AG’s office alleged that a “number of defenses” the Trump defendants had provided were “demonstrably false” and contradicted things they’ve said in other legal cases, citing comments made by Trump and his son Eric Trump in sworn depositions saying things they now allege are false.

Trump and his company also alleged that they “lack sufficient knowledge” to claim whether certain allegations are true or false, but the AG’s office argued those facts should be “within their control,” like Ivanka Trump denying knowledge about whether she met with bankers and claiming not to know the content of her emails.

The Trump defendants also made “boilerplate” defenses that don’t actually address all the allegations and have made “dozens” of legal claims in their defense that the court has already rejected, the AG’s office alleged, like claiming James’ lawsuit is a “witch hunt.”

The Trump Organization has not yet responded to a request for comment.

Tangent

The AG’s filing Tuesday came after Engoron threatened to sanction Trump’s lawyers earlier in January over their “frivolous” motions to dismiss the case.

Crucial Quote

“The Court has already admonished Defendants and their counsel for their continued invocation of meritless legal claims but exercised its discretion in not imposing such sanctions, ‘having made its point,’” the AG’s office wrote in its court filing. “It does not appear that this point was taken.”

What To Watch For

James’ office is asking New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron to set a hearing “as soon as practicable” to consider the sanctions motion. The full lawsuit against the Trump Organization and ex-president is set to go to trial in October. If the Trump Organization loses at trial, James has asked the court to impose a range of punishments, including a $250 million fine, canceling business certificates for the Trump Organization, blocking Trump from making real estate acquisitions in the state for five years and barring Trump and his children from running any businesses in New York.

Key Background

James sued the Trump Organization and its executives in September following a years-long investigation into the company’s finances, which began in March 2019 after ex-Trump attorney Michael Cohen testified to Congress that Trump had fraudulently inflated or deflated the value of his assets on financial statements for personal gain. The lawsuit alleges the Trump Organization fraudulently misstated the value of its assets more than 200 times over the course of 10 years, including for his Trump Tower apartment and Mar-A-Lago estate. Engoron has already appointed an independent monitor to oversee the Trump Organization’s financial documents while the litigation plays out, to stop the company from potentially committing any additional fraud.

Surprising Fact

The threat of sanctions has already appeared to have some effect on the Trump defendants when it comes to James’ lawsuit. Trump has recently withdrawn two lawsuits that stemmed from the New York AG’s case, a countersuit in Florida and another that was pending at an appeals court in New York, which accused James of political bias in suing him. The decision to drop the Florida lawsuit came after the judge overseeing that case separately sanctioned Trump and attorney Alina Habba nearly $1 million in a separate case against Hillary Clinton, warning he could face repercussions in the James suit as well and criticizing him for “using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries.”