NEW YORK — The evidence that Donald Trump, his adult sons, and top associates at his company intended to defraud banks and lenders in business deals by lying about his worth is “inescapable,” the New York attorney general’s office charged Friday in closing briefs in the case threatening the former president’s real estate empire.
In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, lawyers for AG Letitia James said Trump and company should have to pay back a staggering $370 million in illegal gains plus interest, over $120 million more than estimated when the suit was filed in 2022.
The AG also asked the presiding judge to permanently bar the Republican front-runner for president, his former company finance chief Allen Weisselberg, and ex-controller Jeffrey McConney from ever again participating in New York’s real estate industry in addition to a permanent ban on them ever running an Empire State business.
“The conclusion that defendants intended to defraud when preparing and certifying Trump’s (financial statements) is inescapable; the myriad deceptive schemes they employed to inflate asset values and conceal facts were so outrageous that they belie innocent explanation,” they wrote.
“Moreover, direct evidence from multiple witnesses establishes Trump made known his desired target net worth each year prior to assuming public office in 2017, which his CFO and Controller then dutifully set out to hit by reverse-engineering the asset values in the (financial statements), a practice that continued under the leadership of Eric Trump and Donald Trump, Jr. as co-CEOs of (The Trump Organization).”
Lawyers for both sides in the case that’s been on trial since October filed their conclusions in writing and are expected to deliver closing arguments in person on Jan. 11. Trump’s legal affairs spokeswoman and lawyer Alina Habba told the New York Daily News he’s planning to attend summations.
Judge Arthur Engoron before the trial started found Trump, his sons, Eric and Don Jr., Weisselberg and McConney liable for committing persistent and repeated fraud for years — the AG’s top claim of seven — by inflating the value of Trump-owned assets in statements submitted to banks and lenders by up to $2.2 billion as a means to boost his bottom line illegally.
The judge is expected to rule by the end of the month on the remaining claims, which will determine whether Trump and his crew intentionally committed fraud and other offenses and how much they must pay back in illegal profits.
In their closing briefs, lawyers for Trump and his sons, Eric and Don Jr., in turn, said the AG had failed to prove they had direct knowledge of what went into drafting yearly financial statements that documented Trump’s net worth, which were used to secure lucrative loans.
“(Not) a single witness has ever testified that either Donald Trump, Jr. or Eric Trump had anything more than a peripheral knowledge or involvement in the creation, preparation, or use of any of the (financial statements) which are at the center of this action,” the defense lawyers wrote.
“Instead, the record evidence and testimony adduced at trial conclusively establishes that the (financial statements) were prepared, in their entirety, by others at the company working in conjunction with the company’s long time outside accountants.”