On Thursday, a New York appeals court refused to postpone Donald Trump’s scheduled civil fraud trial on October 2, after the former US president claimed the trial judge of wrongfully refusing to dismiss the majority of the case. A five-judge panel of Manhattan’s Appellate Division, a mid-level appeals court, dismissed Trump’s plea to postpone the trial in a brief order. It also overturned Justice David Friedman’s Sept. 14 order to halt the trial while it evaluated Trump’s motion. Friedman was a panelist on Thursday. The panel issued its decision two days after state court Justice Arthur Engoron determined that Trump and his family firm routinely and fraudulently inflated their assets and net worth in order to get better loan terms.
Trump had been sued in September 2022 by state Attorney General Letitia James, who accused him, his adult sons, the Trump Organisation, and others of “staggering fraud” in how they valued properties. James is seeking at least $250 million in penalties, a ban on Trump and his sons Donald Jr. and Eric from operating businesses in New York, and a five-year prohibition on Trump and his Organization from engaging in commercial real estate transactions. Trump’s and the other defendants’ attorneys were not immediately available for comment. James’ office did not respond immediately.Â
Trump filed a lawsuit against Engoron, attempting to postpone the trial, and accused him of disobeying a June judgment
The case is unrelated to Trump’s four criminal indictments, including one for attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges, portraying the legal proceedings against him as a politically driven Democratic witch hunt as he seeks a return to the White House. James is a registered Democrat. Despite his legal woes, Trump holds a commanding lead for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
On September 14, he filed a lawsuit against Engoron, attempting to postpone the trial and accused him of disobeying a June judgment from the appeals court that, according to Trump, required dismantling James’ case since many of her claims were too old. Engoron’s decision on Tuesday indicated that he thought the appeals court verdict had little impact on James’ case. The defendants were living in “a fantasy world, not the real world,” according to the court, as they drew up appraisals for properties such as Trump’s Mar-a-Lago complex in Florida and Trump Tower penthouse in Manhattan. Engoron discovered “conclusive evidence” that Trump had inflated his wealth by much to $2.2 billion. He also ordered the revocation of licenses that allowed some of Trump’s businesses to operate.
This might require Trump to hand over ownership of properties such as Manhattan’s Trump Tower, a Wall Street office building, golf clubs, and his family estate in Westchester County, New York, to a receiver. Late Wednesday night, the attorney general’s office and defense lawyers released lists of potential witnesses, perhaps numbering in the hundreds. Both lists include him and his adult sons, as well as former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg and controller Jeffrey McConney. The list also includes Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who has turned against his former employer, and Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, who was discharged as a defendant by the appeals court in June.
