{"id":15773,"date":"2023-10-02T10:06:31","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T10:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=15773"},"modified":"2023-10-02T10:06:31","modified_gmt":"2023-10-02T10:06:31","slug":"trump-to-appear-in-court-today-for-fraud-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=15773","title":{"rendered":"Trump To Appear In Court Today For Fraud Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

Agency Report<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Donald Trump faces fresh legal danger on Monday as a civil fraud trial against the former president and two of his sons begins in New York, threatening the Republican frontrunner\u2019s business empire as he campaigns to retake the White House with four criminal cases looming.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Monday\u2019s case, Judge Arthur Engoron has already ruled that Trump and his sons Eric and Don Jr. committed fraud by inflating the value of the real estate and financial assets of the Trump Organization for years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump said late Sunday night he planned to be present for the start of the trial Monday morning.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to Court tomorrow morning to fight for my name and reputation,\u201d the 77-year-old wrote on his Truth Social platform.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis whole case is a sham!!!\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to this civil case, Trump also faces several major criminal proceedings in the months ahead.<\/span><\/p>\n

He is scheduled to appear before a federal judge in Washington on March 4, on charges of trying to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election won by Joe Biden.<\/span><\/p>\n

After that, Trump will be back in New York state court, this time on criminal hush money charges, and later in a Florida federal court, where he is accused of mishandling classified documents after leaving office.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, he will also have to answer to state charges in Georgia, where prosecutors say Trump illegally tried to get the southern state\u2019s 2020 election results changed in his favor.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the New York civil case, Engoron ruled that Trump, his two eldest sons and other Trump Organization executives lied to tax collectors, lenders and insurers for years in a scheme that exaggerated the value of their properties by $812 million to $2.2 billion between 2014 and 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013 \u2018Major blow\u2019 \u2013<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

As a result, the judge revoked the business licenses that allowed the Trump Organization to operate some of its New York properties.<\/span><\/p>\n

Actually enforcing such penalties would be \u201ca major blow to Donald Trump\u2019s ability to do business in the State of New York going forward,\u201d Will Thomas, a professor of business law at the University of Michigan, told AFP.<\/span><\/p>\n

Under that kind of pressure, Trump \u2014 who made his reputation and fortune as a real estate mogul in the 1980s and had promised to bring his cut-throat industry tactics to the Oval Office \u2014 could eventually lose control over many of his company\u2019s flagship properties, such as his 5th Avenue Trump Tower in Manhattan.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, Trump\u2019s own apartment in that building is among the spaces that were fraudulently overvalued \u2014 it was listed as three times bigger than its true size.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another Manhattan building, at 40 Wall Street, was overvalued between $200-$300 million in financial disclosures, James alleges.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s luxury Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida \u2014 the site of the classified documents drama \u2014 and several other Trump Organization golf clubs also appear in James\u2019s complaint.<\/span><\/p>\n

All told, she is seeking $250 million in penalties and the removal of Trump and his sons from management of the family empire.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013 High-profile witnesses \u2013<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Trump has repeatedly dismissed the New York civil allegations, calling James, who is Black, \u201cracist,\u201d and labeling Engoron \u201cderanged.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On his Truth Social platform, Trump claimed there was no \u201cwrongdoing\u201d in his actions of \u201cfully paying back sophisticated Wall Street Banks in full, with interest, with no defaults, and with no victims.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There are likely to be dozens of witnesses called to testify at the trial, including Trump himself, and former financial director of the Trump Organization Allen Weisselberg, who served time in prison after pleading guilty to tax fraud in a separate case brought against the business.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s children Eric, Don Jr. and his oldest daughter Ivanka \u2014 who was initially also targeted by James\u2019s complaint but ultimately not prosecuted \u2014 are also likely to present their own testimony.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s former lawyer Michael Cohen \u2014 now an outspoken critic of the former president \u2014 and officials from certain Trump-linked financial institutions are also expected to appear.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump faces fresh legal danger on Monday as a civil fraud trial against the former president and two of his sons begins in New York, threatening the Republican frontrunner\u2019s business empire as he campaigns to retake the White House with four criminal cases looming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15774,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[173,633,7729],"class_list":["post-15773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-court","tag-donald-trump","tag-fraud-trial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15773"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15773"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15775,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15773\/revisions\/15775"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}