2023-09-26 22:02:11
A judge has found former US President Donald Trump guilty of financial fraud. New York judge Arthur Engoron ruled on Tuesday that Trump had intentionally overstated the assets of his real estate empire in the past in order to obtain better conditions for loans, for example. It is a fundamental decision before the actual start of a civil trial once morest the 77-year-old Republican next week.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump and his three eldest children in September 2022 over allegations of financial fraud. The Trump Organization family holding company is alleged to have overstated assets by billions of dollars between 2011 and 2021 in order to “secure and maintain loans and insurance on more favorable terms,” according to a court document from the attorney general’s office.
The action left the defendants with “hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-gotten savings and profits,” the document continued. Attorney General James is seeking, among other things, penalties of $250 million (around 235 million euros).
The lawsuit was originally directed once morest Trump’s three eldest children, Ivanka, Donald Junior and Eric Trump. However, Ivanka has since been removed from the lawsuit.
The civil trial once morest Trump, his two eldest sons and several other defendants in New York will begin next Monday. With his ruling on Tuesday, Judge Engoron already anticipated an important decision regarding how this is possible in such proceedings. One question in the process will be, among other things, how high the punishment will be once morest Trump. The ex-president is not threatened with a prison sentence in this civil case.
The situation is different in four criminal cases in which Trump was indicted this year. The Republican was initially indicted in New York in the spring over a hush money payment to a porn actress before the 2016 presidential election. This was followed by an indictment by the federal judiciary in the affair surrounding secret documents that Trump had taken from the White House to his private estate at Mar-a-Lago in the US state of Florida.
At the beginning of August, Trump was also indicted by the federal judiciary for his attempts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election and thus stay in power. This was followed in mid-August by an indictment in the southern state of Georgia on similar allegations.
Trump has denied all allegations. The 77-year-old right-wing populist describes the proceedings as a politically motivated attempt to torpedo his bid for the presidential election in November 2024. Trump is the overwhelming favorite in the race for the Republican presidential nomination – despite his numerous judicial problems.
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