NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 A judge ruled Tuesday that Donald Trump committed fraud for years while building the real estate empire that catapulted him to fame and the White House, and he ordered some of the former president\u2019s companies removed from his control and dissolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Judge Arthur Engoron, ruling in a civil lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, found that Trump and his company deceived banks, insurers and others by massively overvaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth on paperwork used in making deals and securing loans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Engoron ordered that some of Trump\u2019s business licenses be rescinded as punishment, making it difficult or impossible for them to do business in New York, and said he would continue to have an independent monitor oversee Trump Organization operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If not successfully appealed, the order would strip Trump of his authority to make strategic and financial decisions over some of his key properties in the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump, in a series of statements, railed against the decision, calling it \u201cun-American\u201d and part of an ongoing plot to damage his campaign to return to the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>\u201cMy Civil rights have been violated, and some Appellate Court, whether federal or state, must reverse this horrible, un-American decision,\u201d he wrote on his Truth Social site. He insisted his company had \u201cdone a magnificent job for New York State\u201d and \u201cdone business perfectly,\u201d calling it \u201cA very sad Day for the New York State System of Justice!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump\u2019s lawyer, Christopher Kise, said they would appeal, calling the decision \u201ccompletely disconnected from the facts and governing law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Engoron\u2019s ruling, days before the start of a non-jury trial in James\u2019 lawsuit, is the strongest repudiation yet of Trump\u2019s carefully coiffed image as a wealthy and shrewd real estate mogul turned political powerhouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond mere bragging about his riches, Trump, his company and key executives repeatedly lied about them on his annual financial statements, reaping rewards such as favorable loan terms and lower insurance costs, Engoron found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those tactics crossed a line and violated the law, the judge said, rejecting Trump\u2019s contention that a disclaimer on the financial statements absolved him of any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn defendants\u2019 world: rent regulated apartments are worth the same as unregulated apartments; restricted land is worth the same as unrestricted land; restrictions can evaporate into thin air; a disclaimer by one party casting responsibility on another party exonerates the other party\u2019s lies,\u201d Engoron wrote in his 35-page ruling. \u201cThat is a fantasy world, not the real world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Manhattan prosecutors had looked into bringing criminal charges over the same conduct but declined to do so, leaving James to sue Trump and seek penalties that aim to disrupt his and his family\u2019s ability to do business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Engoron\u2019s ruling, in a phase of the case known as summary judgment, resolves the key claim in James\u2019 lawsuit, but several others remain. He\u2019ll decide on those claims and James\u2019 request for $250 million in penalties at a trial starting Oct. 2. Trump\u2019s lawyers have asked an appeals court for a delay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cToday, a judge ruled in our favor and found that Donald Trump and the Trump Organization engaged in years of financial fraud,\u201d James said in a statement. \u201cWe look forward to presenting the rest of our case at trial.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump\u2019s lawyers, in their own summary judgment bid, had asked the judge to throw out the case, arguing that there wasn\u2019t any evidence the public was harmed by Trump\u2019s actions. They also argued that many of the allegations in the lawsuit were barred by the statute of limitations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Engoron, noting that he had rejected those arguments earlier in the case, equated them to the plot of the film \u201cGroundhog Day.\u201d He fined five defense lawyers $7,500 each as punishment for \u201cengaging in repetitive, frivolous\u201d arguments, but denied James\u2019 request to sanction Trump and other defendants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n James, a Democrat, sued Trump and the Trump Organization a year ago, accusing them of routinely inflating the value of assets like skyscrapers, golf courses and his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, padding his bottom line by billions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Engoron found that Trump consistently overvalued Mar-a-Lago, inflating its value on one financial statement by as much as 2,300%. The judge also rebuked Trump for lying about the size of his Manhattan apartment. Trump claimed his three-story Trump Tower penthouse was nearly three times its actual size, valuing it at $327 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA discrepancy of this order of magnitude, by a real estate developer sizing up his own living space of decades, can only be considered fraud,\u201d Engoron wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On X in the wake of the ruling, Eric Trump insisted his father\u2019s claims about Mar-a-Lago were correct, writing that the Palm Beach estate is \u201cspeculated to be worth well over a billion dollars making it arguably the most valuable residential property in the country.\u201d He called the ruling and the lawsuit \u201can attempt to destroy my father and kick him out of New York.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under the ruling, limited liability companies that control some of Trump\u2019s key properties, such as 40 Wall Street, will be dissolved and authority over how to run them handed over to a receiver. Trump would lose his authority over whom to hire or fire, whom to rent office space to, and other key decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe decision seeks to nationalize one of the most successful corporate empires in the United States and seize control of private property all while acknowledging there is zero evidence of any default, breach, late payment or any complaint of harm,\u201d Kise said after the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n James\u2019 lawsuit is one of several legal headaches for Trump, the Republican front-runner in next year\u2019s election. He has been indicted four times<\/u><\/a> in the last six months \u2014 accused in Georgia and Washington, D.C., of plotting to overturn his 2020 election loss, in Florida of hoarding classified documents, and in Manhattan of falsifying business records related to hush money paid on his behalf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Trump Organization was convicted of tax fraud last year in an unrelated criminal case for helping executives dodge taxes on perks such as apartments and cars. The company was fined $1.6 million. One executive, Trump\u2019s longtime finance chief Allen Weisselberg, pleaded guilty and served five months in jail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n James\u2019 office previously sued Trump for misusing his charitable foundation to further his political and business interests. Trump was ordered to give $2 million to charity as a fine while his own charity, the Trump Foundation, was shut down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n