Global Courant
Former President Donald Trump submitted “fraudulent appraisals” for assets that were then used by himself, his eldest sons and his company to obtain better loan and insurance terms, a New York judge decided Tuesday.
The judge’s determination came as he issued a partial summary judgment in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ multimillion-dollar civil fraud case.
Judge Arthur Engoron also cited “false and misleading square footage” of Trump’s Fifth Avenue apartment, among other incorrect valuations.
The judge immediately revoked all of the defendants’ corporate certificates in New York and ordered that they may recommend no more than three potential independent trustees to arrange the dissolution of the canceled LLCs within ten days.
This severely limits Trump’s ability to do business in New York in the future.
The judge said Trump and the other defendants have a “propensity to engage in persistent fraud,” which seriously undermines the defense Trump will provide when the case goes to trial next month.
In this June 24, 2023 file photo, Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump speaks at an event in Washington, D.C.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images, FILE
Engoron wrote in his order that Trump, his adult sons, Eric and Don Jr., and the other defendants fraudulently overstated the value of properties including Mar-A-Lago, Trump’s own triplex apartment, 40 Wall Street, Trump Park Avenue , several golf courses, have increased. courses and an estate in upstate New York.
Trump inflated the value of his own Trump Tower residence between $114 million and $207 million, including claiming the property was three times its actual size in square feet, Engoron ruled.
“A discrepancy of this magnitude, where a real estate developer has estimated his own living space over decades, can only be considered fraud,” Engoron said in his order.
Engoron also found that Trump had inflated the value of his Mar-a-Lago club by at least 2,300%, claiming that the property appraised by the county at between $18 million and $27.6 million was actually between was worth $426,529,614 and $612,110,496.
In total, Engoron wrote that New York’s attorney general had “provided decisive evidence” that the defendants had overvalued their assets by between $812 million and $2.2 billion.
Engoron also sanctioned Donald Trump’s lawyers for spreading “bogus arguments,” ordering five attorneys to pay $7,500 each. Christopher Kise, Michael Madaio, Clifford S. Robert, Michael Farina and Armen Morian were each ordered to pay within 30 days.
A lawyer from the New York Attorney General’s office had previously described “stunning” misrepresentations about the value of Trump’s properties and assets, arguing that Trump engaged in a long-term “bait-and-switch” to to reduce his tax burden while at the same time inflating his assets for favorable loan terms.
