Attorney General of New York Letitia James is seeking a $370 million punishment and a lifetime ban from the state's real estate industry for former President Donald Trump and two of his former company executives.
The sanction was requested in post-trial motions submitted on Friday by attorneys representing James in the Trump fraud case, as NBC News reported.
It has been asserted that Trump is allegedly indebted to $152 million from the sale of the Old Post Office building, which houses one of his hotels, $60 million from the transfer of the Ferry Point Golf Course contract, and $2.5 million from severance agreements for former Trump Organization controller Jeff McConney and former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Howard Weisselberg.
James additionally advocated for Trump, Weisselberg, and McConney to be permanently barred from the real estate sector and from holding positions of authority as officers or directors in New York corporations or entities.
Under the same conditions, the attorney general also requested five-year prohibitions for Trump's eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
The case's summary judgment established the liability of the former president, his company, and senior executives for repeated and persistent fraud pertaining to the preparation and certification of falsely inflated financial statements for Trump. These statements ranged in value from $812 million to $2.2 billion.
The defense attorneys stated in a separate petition filed on Friday that the evidence does not support a finding that he intended to defraud and that the same holds true for Weisselberg and McConney.
The attorneys contended that the attorney general's office has been unable to establish insurance fraud and has not provided any tangible evidence of its effects, while banks independently examined the financial statements.
Trump has consistently refuted any culpability in the case, referring to the lawsuit as a "partisan witch hunt" and threatening to appeal the judge's decision.
In a post in all capital letters Friday on Truth Social, Trump said, "I did nothing wrong, my financial statements are great, & very conservative, the exact opposite of what the highly political & totally corrupt New York state attorney general says."
"This case should never have been brought, should be in the commercial division (the rigged judge would not let go of it!), & I should never have been gagged," Trump continued.
"Now the corrupt A.G. wants $370,000,000 as businesses flee New York. They should pay me. This is prosecutorial misconduct — a DOJ witch hunt!”
According to James' office, Trump and the others engaged in fraudulent activities with the explicit purpose of obtaining millions in ill-gotten gains. The amount she is demanding in damages significantly exceeds the $250 million she initially projected for Trump and his company in 2022.
Beginning in early October, the trial concluded last month with the conclusion of testimony. Closed-door arguments are scheduled for January 11, and Judge Arthur Engoron has stated that he anticipates rendering a written decision containing his findings in the weeks that follow.
On December 18, Engoron issued a ruling in which he expressed his lack of conviction regarding the Trump team's assertions that the financial statements were not inflated and that such valuations are subjective.
The business fraud lawsuit is merely one of Trump's numerous significant cases. In addition, the former president is facing allegations of state election interference in Fulton County, Georgia, and federal offenses pertaining to alleged election subversion in Washington, D.C., and mishandling of classified documents in Florida.
