As former US President Donald Trump and his sons went to trial on Monday in a civil fraud case, the New York's attorney general in his opening statement accused him of generating more than $100 million by lying about his real estate empire. Attorney General Letitia James is seeking at least $250 million in fines, a permanent ban against Trump and his sons Donald Jr and Eric from running businesses in New York and a five-year commercial real estate ban against the former US President and the Trump Organization, reported news agency Reuters.
James accused Trump of materially overvaluing his assets including his Trump Tower penthouse apartment in Manhattan, Florida's Mar-a-Lago estate, various office towers, and golf clubs. James said that Trump inflated his fortune by around $2.2 Billion.
Christopher Kise, a lawyer representing Trump countered James' opening statement by saying that his client's financials were entirely legal, reported Reuters. Kise said, "He (Trump) has made a fortune literally being right about real estate investments. There was no intent to defraud, there was no illegality, there was no default, there was no breach, there was no reliance from the banks, there were no unjust profits, and there were no victims."
Trump told reporters before the trial began that the case was a "scam," a "sham" and a political vendetta by James, and during a lunch break called the Democrat "a corrupt person, a terrible person. Driving people out of New York."
He was equally unsparing of the judge, Arthur Engoron, calling him a partisan Democrat who is using the case to interfere with the 2024 presidential election, where Trump holds a big lead for the Republican nomination.
"This is a judge that should be disbarred," Trump told reporters. "This is a judge that should be out of office."
Another lawyer named Alina Habba separately told Judge Arthur Engoron that Trump's assets were "Mona Lisa properties", meaning that they could fetch premium prices if he sold them, according to Reuters.
Earlier last week, the judge found Trump, his sons, and ten of his companies liable for fraud. He said that the defendants made up the valuations. He said that the Trump Tower apartment was valued as if it were three times its actual size and worth $327 million. While commenting on the valuation of Mar-a-Lago, the judge said that the valuation stated was worth up to $739 million whereas its assessed value was no more than $28 million. Following this, the judge cancelled the business certificates for companies which were the controlling pillars of Trump's empire. He said that he would appoint receivers to oversee their dissolution.