Letitia James, Donald Trump

A Manhattan State Supreme Court judge has ordered the Trump Organization to submit to a court-appointed, independent monitor.

Judge Arthur Engoron agreed with State Attorney General Letitia James that the monitoring is necessary given Trump and his company’s “demonstrated propensity to engage in persistent fraud.”

James had requested the intervention as part of her $250 million fraud lawsuit against the former president, his family, and his business.

As another part of the ruling, Trump cannot now sell, transfer or otherwise move or dispose of any of his properties “without first providing 14 days written notice” to the judge and the attorney general’s office.
The attorney general must recommend three potential monitors to the judge by November 12. Trump’s side would be allowed three days to challenge the choice, but the final decision on who the monitor would be will rest with the judge.

The monitor will ensure that no property transactions or company restructuring occurs without the attorney general’s office getting notice. The ruling said the watchdog also must be given access to any company data he or she needs “to assess the accuracy of any representation” Trump makes in future financial filings.

The oversight would likely stay in place for the year or so it takes for James’ lawsuit to be decided by Engoron in a non-jury trial. The attorney general has asked for an October 2023 trial date.

Former President Donald Trump responded to this by filing a lawsuit in Florida Circuit Court against New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The lawsuit accuses James of repeatedly abusing her position as attorney general to “pursue a relentless, pernicious, public, and unapologetic crusade” against Trump. He claims James is violating his rights to privacy and property and violating his rights as a grantor and beneficiary of the Donald J. Trump revocable trust.

The suit asks a judge to put an end to James’ multiple investigations into Trump and his businesses, which the former president argues are politically motivated. Trump believes that if he had not been elected the former president, he would not be facing “longstanding animosity” from James.

Letitia James, Donald Trump

CNN reports a New York judge has fined the Trump Organization‘s former appraiser $10,000 a day after holding it in civil contempt of court for failing to comply with subpoenas from the New York attorney general’s office.

Judge Arthur Engoron said the appraiser, Cushman & Wakefield, “has only itself to blame if it chose to treat the looming deadlines cavalierly.”

Appraisals performed by Cushman, which worked for the Trump Organization for years until it resigned following the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, are central to the civil investigation into the accuracy of the Trump Organization’s financial statements.

Cushman had previously fought the subpoena and challenged it in court. Last month a New York appeals court said it would not block the state from enforcing the subpoena.
The company said it has gone to “extreme lengths” to cooperate with the court and the attorney general’s office, and plans to appeal.

A Cushman spokesman said, “We have gone to great expense and effort to quickly identify, collect, review and produce the massive set of documents requested by the OAG, and we have now produced over hundreds of thousands of pages of documents and over 650 appraisals since the last subpoena was issued in February 2022”

The spokesman added, “Cushman disagrees with any suggestion that the firm has not exercised diligence and good faith in complying with the Court’s order, and we will be appealing this decision.”

Letitia James, Donald Trump

A New York judge has released former President Donald Trump from a judicial order holding him in contempt of court on the condition that he pay a $110,000 fine.

Politico reports Trump, whose business dealings are under a civil investigation by the New York state Attorney General’s Office, failed to comply with a December subpoena for financial documents. On April 25, Justice Arthur Engoron of the New York Supreme Court for New York County held Trump in contempt of court and ordered him to pay $10,000 a day until he complied with the subpoena.

The penalty amounted to a $110,000 penalty by May 6, when Trump’s lawyers submitted 66 pages of court documents detailing efforts to locate the subpoenaed records.

Engoron lifted the contempt order on Wednesday, but with a few conditions. Trump must pay the $110,000 fine, and should he not meet the conditions by May 20, Engoron will reinstate the contempt order and retroactively apply the $10,000-a-day fine.

Trump must also by May 20 provide additional affidavits detailing efforts to search for records and explaining his and his company’s document retention policies, and a company he hired to help search for documents must complete its work.

New York Attorney General Letitia James launched the probe into the Trump Organization more than three years ago, alleging Trump misstated values of assets in his financial statements. James filed a contempt motion earlier in April after Trump failed to produce documents by the March 31 deadline.

James issued a statement on Wednesday saying that Engoron’s “decision makes clear that no one can evade accountability,” since Trump will have to pay the state Attorney General’s Office the $110,000 fine for his refusal to comply with its subpoenas.

Letitia James, Donald Trump

CNN reports a New York judge is holding Donald Trump in civil contempt after the state’s attorney general’s office said he did not comply with a subpoena for documents as part of its investigation into the former President’s company.

Judge Arthur Engoron said Trump failed to abide by his order to comply with the subpoena, and that his attorneys failed to show how a search of materials held by Trump was conducted. Engoron said Trump would be fined $10,000 a day until he complies. A written decision with a start date for fines is expected Tuesday.

Trump plans to appeal the decision, his attorney Alina Habba told reporters.

New York Attorney General Letitia James‘ office has been investigating the Trump Organization for more than two years and previously said her office found multiple misleading or fraudulent misstatements and omissions in the Trump Organization’s financial statements, which were provided to lenders and insurers, among others, as part of its investigation.

Andrew Amer, with the attorney general’s office, said that Trump has failed to produce “even a single responsive document” for a subpoena that was issued to him in December.

In court, Habba said the former president does not believe he is above the law, but simply does not have the types of written communications that were sought by the subpoena, but that he produced hundreds of thousands of documents through his assistants.

The judge asked why Trump didn’t sign an affidavit swearing that he complied with the subpoena. Habba said that he would.

James’ office has said in court filings that the Trump Organization is under investigation for engaging in fraudulent or misleading conduct in connection with appraisals and financial statements. The office has subpoenaed both the former president and his company for documents related to its investigation.

Also Monday, Engoron allowed James’ office to add real estate services firm Cushman and Wakefield as a respondent to its legal action against the Trump Organization, and ordered the company to comply with a subpoena for documents.

At the heart of the subpoenas are appraisals from Cushman and Wakefield appraisers who worked on valuations for Trump Organization properties, as well as documents showing relationships between the two companies and internal communications about Cushman’s decision to ultimately sever ties with the Trump Organization in January.

Austin Thompson, an attorney with the New York attorney general’s office, said his office has identified “misstatements” made by appraisers who made valuations at a Trump Organization property in Westchester County, New York, known as Seven Springs. And while the statute of limitations on some of the appraisals may have run out, the office still wants to investigate other reports that may be more recent and indicated that the real estate firm could become a party to future legal action by the office.

James’ office is also seeking details on how much money Cushman and Wakefield has made from its relationship with the Trump Organization.

Engoron also granted the attorney general’s office’s request to file documents with the court only, because they contained information that could harm its ongoing investigation.

Letitia James, Donald Trump

A judge ruled Thursday that former President Donald Trump must answer questions under oath in New York state’s civil investigation into his business practices.

The Associated Press reports Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump and his two eldest children, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr., to comply with subpoenas issued in December by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Trump and his two children must sit for depositions within 21 days, Engoron said following a two-hour hearing with lawyers for the Trumps and James’ office.

Engoron wrote in his decision, “In the final analysis, a State Attorney General commences investigating a business entity, uncovers copious evidence of possible financial fraud, and wants to question, under oath, several of the entities’ principals, including its namesake. She has the clear right to do so.”

The eight-page ruling is almost certain to be appealed, but if upheld it could force the former president into a tough decision about whether to answer questions, or stay silent, citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination — something he’s criticized others for doing in the past.

Trump, in a statement, accused James’ office of “doing everything within their corrupt discretion to interfere with my business relationships, and with the political process.”

Trump called the ruling “a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in history — and remember, I can’t get a fair hearing in New York because of the hatred of me by Judges and the judiciary. It is not possible.”

In her own statement, James said: “No one will be permitted to stand in the way of the pursuit of justice, no matter how powerful they are. No one is above the law.”

James, a Democrat, said her investigation has uncovered evidence Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, used “fraudulent or misleading” valuations of assets like golf courses and skyscrapers to get loans and tax benefits.

Trump’s lawyers told Engoron that having him sit for a civil deposition now, while his company is also the subject of a parallel criminal investigation, is an improper attempt to get around a state law barring prosecutors from calling someone to testify before a criminal grand jury without giving them immunity.

Anything Trump says in a civil deposition could be used against him in the criminal probe being overseen by the Manhattan district attorney’s office. If Trump invokes the Fifth Amendment, Trump’s attorney Ronald Fischetti said it could still hurt a potential criminal defense.

A lawyer for the attorney general’s office, Kevin Wallace, told Engoron that it wasn’t unusual to have civil and criminal investigations proceeding at the same time. The judge rejected a request from lawyers for the Trumps to pause the civil probe until the criminal matter is over.

At Thursday’s hearing, Trump lawyer Alina Habba accused James of “selective prosecution” and said the attorney general is “engaging in viewpoint discrimination” motivated by her political ambitions and disdain for the Republican former president, evinced by comments she made over the years about going after Trump.

Wallace noted the state attorney general’s office was investigating Trump-related matters as far back as 2013, long before James was elected, including probes into his charitable foundation and the Trump University training program.

Engoron said the thousands of pages of evidence he’s reviewed in the case shows there’s sufficient basis for continuing the investigation and undercuts “the notion that this ongoing investigation is based on personal animus, not facts and law.”

Engoron also seized on the revelation this week that Trump’s longtime accounting firm sent a letter advising him to no longer rely on years of financial statements it prepared based on his company’s valuations, given questions about their accuracy.

Engoron described the letter as a “red-flag warning that the Trump financial statements are unreliable” and criticized Trump’s company for its contention, in a statement to the news media, that because the accounting firm did not conclude there were material discrepancies in the documents, James’ investigation should be shut down. That claim, he wrote, “is as audacious as it is preposterous.”