A New York judge has ruled that former President Donald Trump committed repeated acts of fraud for years, supporting the state attorney general’s $250 million lawsuit against him and his company. The ruling allows the civil trial to begin next week. Judge Arthur Engoron stated that Trump lied on his financial statements, overvaluing and undervaluing his assets to his advantage and exaggerating his net worth by billions of dollars. The judge described Trump’s legal arguments as baseless and stated that the case was essentially a “documents case,” with fraudulent valuations contained within the documents.
Engoron pointed out one instance where Trump had exaggerated the size of his New York apartment, claiming it was over 30,000 square feet when it was actually a third of that size. The judge found Trump, his sons Don Jr. and Eric, and their companies liable for fraud. He also denied Trump’s motion for summary judgment and sanctioned his attorneys for making rejected legal arguments. The trial is scheduled to start next week and will be decided solely by the judge.
Trump’s lead attorney called the ruling outrageous and disconnected from the facts, while another Trump attorney criticized the determination that Trump’s Florida club Mar-a-Lago had been grossly overvalued. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and labeled the lawsuit as a partisan “witch hunt.” The trial is set to begin next week.