Judge rules Trump Organization violated NY state fraud law

Donald Trump and his Trump Organization have been found to have repeatedly violated state fraud law, delivering on a claim at the center of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million civil lawsuit.

New York Judge Arthur Engoron made the ruling on Tuesday, CBS News reported, and ordered that the Trump Organization’s business certificates be canceled and the company be handed over to independent receivers to manage the dissolution of the canceled LLCs.

“The documents here clearly contain fraudulent valuations that defendants used in business,” Engoron wrote in his ruling.  

The lawsuit, which is set to go to trial on Oct. 2, alleges that Trump, along with his sons Eric and Don Jr. and his company, provided banks with financial statements that misrepresented his wealth by as much as $3.6 billion. Judge Engoron agreed with James’ office that it is beyond dispute Trump and his company violated state fraud law.

The ruling by Judge Engoron is a major victory for James and her office, who last month sought an expedited response from Engoron on the fraud lawsuit in preparation for next month’s trial. The ruling means the trial will focus on James’ suit as it pertains to false business records, insurance fraud and conspiracy. 

It’s more bad news for the former president, who is facing 91 felony charges in four separate indictments in addition to a series of legal issues that he and the Trump Organization have faced in recent years. In 2018, the Trump Foundation was forced to dissolve after it was found to have violated state and federal laws. In 2019, Trump was sued by the New York Attorney General for misusing funds from his charitable foundation.

The ruling is also a major setback for Trump, who has long denied any wrongdoing. Trump has yet to comment on the ruling after a legal team for the former president asked Engoron to throw out the case, which the judge rejected. 

— Caysey Welton