A New York judge ruled Tuesday that Donald Trump lied in financial reports about the value of properties in his real estate portfolio and was therefore able to secure favorable loan terms and lower insurance premiums.
In a 35-page ruling, Judge Arthur Engoron said Trump and his organization overvalued several of their properties, including the members-only Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
In court filings, Trump estimated the property’s value to be between $426.5 million and $612.1 million. But Engoron cited a Palm Beach County appraiser who estimated Mar-a-Lago’s market value to be between $18 million and $27.6 million — at least 2,300 percent less than what the former president claimed.
In the verdict, the judge adds that some of the former president’s defenses – such as the claim that the square footage is “subjective” – are “absurd”. The ruling further sanctions Trump’s lawyers $7,500 each to continue making legal arguments that have already been rejected twice in court and requires the dissolution of some Trump-related LLCs.
Tuesday’s ruling allows a civil trial on the outstanding claims (to be decided by a judge, without a jury) to begin next week.
Eric, Donald Jr., Donald and Ivanka Trump at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Trump Hotel Washington, DC ©Trump Hotels
The ruling came as part of a fraud case brought against the former president, his adult sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., and their company, the Trump Organization, by New York State Attorney Letitia James.
“Today, a judge ruled in our favor and found that Donald Trump and the Trump Organization engaged in financial fraud for years,” James said in a statement. “We look forward to presenting the rest of our case at trial.”
James accused the Trumps and their company of fraudulently inflating the former president’s fortune by as much as $2.2 billion since 2011. The lawsuit seeks to ban Trump from doing business in New York and pay $250 million.
Engoron’s ruling states that the inflation of Mar-a-Lago’s value is akin to fraud. From the verdict: “A deviation of this order of magnitude, by an investor who has determined his living space for decades, can only be considered fraud.”
Donald Trump overstated his wealth by as much as $2.2 billion, New York state attorney says in court filing
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Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty
An earlier court filing states that “correcting these and other blatant and obvious fraudulent practices involving the defendants reduces Mr. Trump’s net worth by between 17-39% each year, or between $812 million and $2.2 billion, depending on the year. ”
The filing accused Trump of appraising several of his properties “at amounts that far exceeded professional appraisals that his employees were aware of and chose to ignore.” In one alleged case, he appraised his rental property on Wall Street for more than twice its appraised value.
Trump and his sons hit back at the recent ruling regarding Mar-a-Lago’s value, with Eric tweeting: “There is speculation that Mar-a-Lago is worth [sic] over a billion dollars.”
Trump himself also disputed the ruling, writing a furious message on his social media site Truth Social in which he accused the judge of being “a deranged Trump-hating judge who RUSHED this FAKE CASE through a New York court at unprecedented speed, refusing to let it he goes to the commercial department, where he belongs, denying me everything, no trial, no jury.”
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Trump added that Mar-a-Lago is “WORTH MAYBE 100 TIMES” what Engoron cited in his ruling, adding, “My actual net worth is MUCH MORE than the number shown in the financial statements, BIG SURPRISE for him and Racist AG , Letitia James, who campaigned for office on the Get Trump platform.”
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Since leaving office in January 2021, Trump’s post-White House prestige has been overshadowed by intensifying investigations on various fronts, including his political behavior and business dealings.
So far, four of those investigations have resulted in indictments — the first making him the only US president to face criminal charges, and the next two further highlighting him as the only president to face federal charges.
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Source: HIS Education