{"id":18532,"date":"2023-10-02T04:56:44","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T09:56:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=18532"},"modified":"2023-10-02T04:56:48","modified_gmt":"2023-10-02T09:56:48","slug":"donald-trump-says-he-will-be-in-courtroom-for-new-york-trial-scrutinizing-his-business-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=18532","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump says he will be in courtroom for New York trial scrutinizing his business practices"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 With control over some of his most prized real estate holdings in jeopardy, former President Donald Trump says he will make a rare, voluntary trip to court Monday for the start of a civil trial in a lawsuit that has already resulted in a judge ruling that he\u00a0committed fraud in his business dealings.
\u201cI\u2019m going to Court tomorrow morning to fight for my name and reputation,\u201d Trump wrote Sunday night on his Truth Social platform.
Trump lashed out in his post at New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is suing him, and Judge Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over the non-jury trial and made the fraud ruling last week.
\u201cTHIS WHOLE CASE IS SHAM!!!\u201d Trump wrote. \u201cSee you in Court – Monday morning.\u201d
The trial is the culmination of a yearslong investigation by James, who accused Trump and his company of habitually lying about his wealth in financial statements.
Last week,\u00a0Engoron\u00a0resolved the lawsuit\u2019s top claim before the trial even began, ruling that Trump routinely deceived banks, insurers and others by exaggerating the value of assets on paperwork used in making deals and securing loans.
The former president and a who\u2019s who of people in his orbit \u2014 his two eldest sons, Trump Organization executives and\u00a0former lawyer-turned-foe Michael Cohen\u00a0are all listed among dozens of potential witnesses.
Trump isn\u2019t expected to testify for several weeks. His trip to court Monday will mark a remarkable departure from his past practice.
Trump didn\u2019t come to court as either a witness or a spectator when his company and one of its top executives was convicted of tax fraud last year. He didn\u2019t show, either, for a trial earlier this year in which a jury found him liable for sexually assaulting the writer E. Jean Carroll in a department store dressing room.
In some ways, though, this new trial comes with higher stakes.
James, a Democrat, is seeking $250 million in penalties and a ban on doing business in New York.
Engoron\u2019s ruling of last week, if upheld on appeal, would also shift control of some of his companies to a court-appointed receiver and could force him to give up prized New York properties such as Trump Tower, a Wall Street office building, golf courses and a suburban estate.
Trump called it a \u201ca corporate death penalty.\u201d
\u201cI have a Deranged, Trump Hating Judge, who RAILROADED this FAKE CASE through a NYS Court at a speed never before seen,\u201d Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
In his post Sunday night, Trump wrote that Engoron is \u201cunfair, unhinged, and vicious in his PURSUIT of me.\u201d
Engoron will decide on six remaining claims in James\u2019 lawsuit, including allegations of conspiracy, falsifying business records and insurance fraud.
James\u2019 lawsuit accused Trump and his company of a long list of fibs in the financial statements he gave to banks. In a recent court filing, James\u2019 office alleged Trump exaggerated his wealth by as much as $3.6 billion.
Among the allegations were that Trump claimed his Trump Tower apartment in Manhattan \u2014 a three-story penthouse replete with gold-plated fixtures \u2014 was nearly three times its actual size and worth an astounding $327 million. No apartment in New York City has ever sold for close to that amount, James said.
Trump valued Mar-a-Lago as high as $739 million \u2014 more than 10 times a more reasonable estimate of its worth, James claimed. Trump\u2019s figure for the private club and residence was based on the idea that the property, now a private club, could be developed for residential use, but deed terms prohibit that, James said.
Trump has denied wrongdoing, arguing in sworn testimony for the case that it didn\u2019t matter what he put on his financial statements because they have a disclaimer that says they shouldn\u2019t be trusted.
He and his lawyers have also argued that no one was harmed by anything in the financial statements. Banks he borrowed money from were fully repaid. Business partners made money. And Trump\u2019s own company flourished.
James\u2019 lawsuit is one of several legal headaches for Trump as he campaigns for a return to the White House in next year\u2019s election. He\u00a0has been indicted four times\u00a0since March, accused of plotting to overturn his 2020 election loss, hoarding classified documents and falsifying business records related to hush money paid on his behalf.
The trial could last into December, Engoron said.
apnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 With control over some of his most prized real estate holdings in jeopardy, former President Donald Trump says he will make a rare, voluntary trip to court Monday for the start of a civil trial in a lawsuit that has already resulted in a judge ruling that he\u00a0committed fraud in his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":18533,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[22947,22949,3480,22948,3352],"class_list":["post-18532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-business-conduct","tag-court-appearance","tag-donald-trump","tag-new-york-trial","tag-scrutiny"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18532"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18534,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18532\/revisions\/18534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}