New York says Trump inflated net worth by up to $3.6 billion; Trump seeks dismissal

As she continues to prepare for trial in her civil action against the former American president and his family company, the attorney general of New York State claimed on Friday that Donald Trump may have falsely increased his wealth by a far greater amount than was previously believed.

Attorney General Letitia James said in a document filed in a New York state court in Manhattan that her valuation and accounting experts think Trump inflated his net worth by between $1.9 billion and $3.6 billion annually over a ten-year period.
That is more than the $812 million to $2.23 billion estimate she made last week based on what she termed “undisputed” information, which Trump opposes.

According to James, there is a “mountain of evidence” that Trump and his colleagues misled about his assets and net worth in order to get better terms on loans and insurance, which supports a conclusion that his financial statements were false even before the Oct. 2 trial.

In addition to demanding a $250 million punishment, the attorney general wants to prevent Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and the rest of the Trump family from running the New York City-based Trump Organization.

Six minutes after James’ submission, attorneys representing Trump, who wants the lawsuit to be dismissed in its entirety, responded.

They said that Trump was “without a doubt, worth many billions of dollars,” and that he had even generated “substantial sums of money” for the organizations that provided financing and insurance for the real estate holdings that made up his “phenomenal corporate empire.”
“No fraud was committed. There are no victims, according to the attorneys.

The majority of James’ accusations, according to Trump’s attorneys, are barred by statutes of limitations. They also charged James of “maligning, demeaning, and libeling President Trump and his entire family via an opportunistic lawsuit filed for political gain.”

Trump now has a huge lead over James in the contest for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

TRUMP TOWER, MAR-A-LAGO
The hearing on the applications for summary judgment from both parties has been set for September 22 by the judge, Arthur Engoron.

If Trump wins, his decisions might limit the case’s parameters or do away with the necessity for a trial, which could go on until just before Christmas.

The case is distinct from Trump’s four pending criminal charges, two of which center on his efforts to reverse his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. In all four criminal proceedings, Trump has entered a not-guilty plea.

The valuation of some of Trump’s assets, including his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida and his triple penthouse atop the Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan, is disputed in James’ complaint.

James cited her experts when she said that between 2014 and 2019, the latter three of which were spent in the White House, Trump may have increased his net worth by $3.5 billion to $3.6 billion annually.

Trump’s net worth reached its peak of $6.1 billion in 2015, 2018, and 2019, according to his financial disclosures, according to James.

Engoron denied Trump’s request to postpone the trial until at least three weeks after he made his decision about the requests for summary judgment on Wednesday.

New York v. Trump et al., New York State Supreme Court, New York County, No. 452564/2022, is the name of the civil lawsuit in New York.