Trump should pay $370m and be barred from New York business, state AG argues

Trump should pay 0m and be barred from New York business, state AG argues

Donald Trump and his co-defendants in a sprawling civil case alleging years of fraud within his real estate empire should be forced to pay more than $370m and effectively barred from doing business in New York, according to the state’s attorney general.

Several lengthy final briefs submitted to New York County Supreme Court on Friday summarise arguments from Mr Trump’s attorneys as well as Attorney General Letitia James’s long-running case and arguments against the former president and his chief associates, who faced a 44-day trial stemming from her blockbuster lawsuit against them.

The filings arrive one week before closing arguments in the case. Judge Arthur Engoron is expected to issue a decision by the end of January.

The judge’s pretrial ruling in the case effectively ordered the dissolution of Mr Trump’s New York-based real estate empire, what the former president has labelled the “corporate death penalty” against him.

That order has been put on hold pending appeal while the trial played out in lower Manhattan.

On Friday, Ms James’s office added several other sanctions in her request, including “lifetime injunctions” that bar Mr Trump and former Trump Organization executives Allen Weisselberg and Jeffrey McConney from “participating in the real estate industry in New York State or from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity are necessary and appropriate.”

Evidence collected by her office, expert witness testimony and courtroom testimony from Mr Trump himself, as well as his adult sons and co-defendants Donald Trump Jr and Eric Jr, is “conclusive,” according to the filing.

The evidence proves “numerous overt acts by Weisselberg, McConney, Trump, Donald Trump Jr, and Eric Trump in furtherance of the conspiracy to falsify business records and the conspiracy to issue false financial statements,” the brief states.

Ms James’s lawsuit accuses Mr Trump and his co-defendants of defrauding banks and other financial institutions by inflating his net worth and assets on annual statements of financial conditions – documents at the heart of the case – to secure favourable financing terms for some of his star properties.

Judge Engoron’s pretrial judgment found the defendants liable for fraud, leaving a trial to determine what they owe and whether the attorney general succeeds on six other claims against them, including insurance fraud and conspiracy.

This is a developing story

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