NEW YORK (Reuters) – A New York judge has set October 2023 as the trial date for former U.S. President Donald Trump, three of his adult children and the Trump Organization in a suit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James accusing them of crimes. Forgery. Exaggerating the real estate company’s assets and Trump’s net worth.
Manhattan State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron set the trial date for a contentious hearing on Tuesday after Trump’s requests the night before to dismiss the civil suit.
I have ruled in all of these cases. It seems to me that the facts are the same. The law is the same. Engoron told Alina Heba, Trump’s attorney. “You can’t keep making the same argument after you’ve already lost.”
Heba accused the judge of bias. Trump, a Republican, accused James, a Democrat, of suing him because she hates him and his politics.
In the lawsuit filed Sept. 21, James Trump, his company, and his sons Donald Jr., Eric, Ivanka, and others are accused of inflating Trump’s assets by billions of dollars during a decade of lying to banks, corporations, and insurance companies. James described the fraud as “incredible”.
The lawsuit seeks damages of $250 million. It also seeks to ban Trump from running businesses in the state and to prevent Trump and his company from acquiring real estate in New York for five years.
Engoron must make a decision on rejection by the beginning of January. Trump is already appealing to Enguron by ordering an independent watchdog to monitor his company.
The trial, scheduled for Oct. 2, 2023, and other legal issues could delay Trump’s campaign, which was announced last week, for president in 2024.
The Trump Organization is now on trial in another Manhattan courtroom on charges of tax evasion.
Additionally, last week, US Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to oversee two criminal investigations, one involving the FBI’s seizure of government documents from Trump’s Florida home and another examining Trump’s role in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Trump also faces a criminal investigation in Georgia over whether he interfered in the state’s 2020 election results.
He has described these cases and investigations as politically motivated and called Engoron a “client judge” for James.
In an effort to dismiss the case brought by James, Trump asserted that the attorney general had no authority to bring a lawsuit aimed at “catching” him when the public or the market would not be harmed.
Who will benefit from this highly politicized charade? [sic], except for the politically installed New York State Attorney General? ”
Other defendants also requested dismissal.
Attorneys for the Trump children called the lawsuit “a classic example of throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks.” Lawyers for Ivanka Trump said there were no allegations that she lied or defrauded anyone.
Allen Weisselberg, the former longtime chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, and Comptroller Jeffrey McCone, have sought to have the lawsuits against them dismissed. Both testified as prosecution witnesses in the Manhattan criminal trial in which prosecutors accused the company of tax evasion over a period of 15 years.
Additional reporting by Karen Freefield and Jonathan Stempel in New York. Editing by Will Dunham
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