Donald Trump and his two adult sons could have to pay $370 million in fines and be deprived of part of their real estate empire if a New York judge convicts them Friday in civil court for financial fraud.
The former President of the United States, candidate for a return to the White House, his sons Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump appeared during a long civil trial from October to January, accused of having enormously inflated the value of the assets of their family empire Trump Organization.
A written decision without a hearing could be rendered on Friday by Judge Arthur Engoron, a source close to the case confirmed to AFP.
The Attorney General of the State of New York Letitia James, elected Democrat, who filed a civil complaint in the fall of 2022 for financial fraud, is demanding $370 million in compensation from them and the verdict of the Manhattan civil court could also withdraw to the Trumps control of their businesses and real estate assets in New York.
“Repeated frauds”
Trump father and son are accused of having caused a colossal increase in the value of skyscrapers, luxury hotels and golf courses throughout the world during the 2010s, at the heart of the Trump Organization, to obtain more favorable loans from banks. and better insurance conditions.
Certain assets, such as the Trump Tower on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, are emblematic of the success of the businessman who entered politics on his image as a successful builder.
Even before the trial, from October to January, Judge Engoron, with whom Donald Trump has execrable relations, had judged the fraud to be constituted.
The magistrate had estimated that the New York State Attorney General's Office of Letitia James presented
“conclusive evidence that between 2014 and 2021, the defendants (had) overvalued the assets”
of the group by
“812 million (to) 2, 2 billion dollars”
depending on the year.
As a result of
"repeated fraud"
, the judge ordered at the end of September the liquidation of the companies managing these assets, such as the Trump Tower or the neo-Gothic style skyscraper and soon to be centenary of 40 Wall Street, in the hall of which Donald Trump gave some of his press conferences after the trial hearings.
This decision was suspended on appeal.
The 77-year-old Republican magnate and tribune has continued to rage against justice in the hands, according to him, of President Joe Biden's Democrats, denouncing
“a trial worthy of a banana republic”
.
His lawyers argued a case that they said was legally empty.
Unlike criminal trials this year - like the one set for Thursday March 25 for payments to silence a porn star - Donald Trump does not face prison in this civil case.