N.Y. AG calls for $370M fine against Trump and lifetime ban from state real estate industry
New York Attorney General Letitia James is calling for a $370 million fine against Donald Trump and his companies and a lifetime ban on him and two of his former company executives from the real estate industry in the state.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is calling for a $370 million fine against former President Donald Trump and his companies and a lifetime ban on him and two of his former company executives from the real estate industry in the state.
Attorneys from James' office requested the punishment in post-trial motions filed Friday in the Trump fraud case. They said that Trump owes $168 million of interest allegedly saved through fraud; $152 million from the sale of the Old Post Office building in Washington, D.C., the site of one of Trump's hotels; $60 million through the transfer of the Ferry Point Golf Course contract; and $2.5 million from severance agreements for former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Howard Weisselberg and ex-Trump Organization controller Jeff McConney.
James also called for lifetime bans for Trump, Weisselberg and McConney from participation in the real estate industry as well as from serving as officers or directors in New York corporations or entities. The attorney general also asked for five-year bans for Trump's eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, with the same conditions.
The summary judgment in the case found the former president, his company and top executives liable for repeated and persistent fraud in preparing and certifying as true Trump’s statements of financial condition, which were falsely inflated by between $812 million and $2.2 billion.
In a separate motion filed Friday, the defense attorneys said the evidence doesn’t support a finding that he intended to defraud, and said the same applies to Weisselberg and McConney. The lawyers argued that attorney general’s office has failed to prove insurance fraud and has not demonstrated any real-world impact, and banks did their own due diligence on the financial statements.
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