On October 2, 2023, former President of the United States, Donald J Trump, was accused of inflating the value of assets to receive loans as well as insurance deals. The original accusation was made by Letitia James, New York’s attorney general on Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Eric Trump.
Before the trial began, Judge Arthur F. Engoron ruled that Trump and his sons were liable for fraud. James requests that not only Trump pays $250 million but also that he and his sons stop running a business in New York. Trump’s lawyers have denied James’ accusations, claiming that the assets have no objective value and that the changing values can only be blamed on real estate patterns.
As the trial continues, insurance expert David Miller and former Trump Organization controller, Jeffery McConney will join the trial.
On November 13, 2023, Donald Trump Jr. was called as the first witness of the defense where he claimed Trump was a “genius” and a “visionary”. This was actually Donald Trump Jr.’s second time on the stand, as he had testified weeks before during the attorney’s general case.
Jason Flemmons, former deputy chief accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission was the next on the stand. Flemmons testified that the Trump Organization had “used professional accounting methods” and that some of the professional methods used may lead assets to vary. This means that it would be acceptable for the Trump Organization to have had this jump in asset value, as long as the method used was said.
At the beginning of Trump’s Fraud Trial, Trump made a post, replying to and retweeting an image of Allison Greenfield, Engoron’s law clerk, posing next to Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer with the captioned, “Schumer’s girlfriend, Allison R. Greenfield, is running this case against me. How disgraceful! This case should be dismissed immediately!!”
A gag order was issued immediately on Trump, prohibiting him from making any comments on court staff.
Trump now owes $15,000 in fines for failing to obey his gag order on two occasions.
On November 16, 2023, this gag order was lifted after Christopher M. Kise stated, “Fortunately, the Constitution and the First Amendment protect everyone, including President Trump.” Not even a full day after the gag order was lifted, Trump made a post claiming Greenfield was “…politically biased and out of control…”
Trump’s lawyer’s called for a mistrial after finding evidence of bias from Justice Engoron and Greenfield, as they are both democrats. Trump’s lawyers have gone as far as to say that it appear that Greenfield is co-judging due to the many times she has had discussions with the judge.
The request for mistrial was denied by Justice Engoron writing “My decisions are mine, and mine alone. That I may consult on the trial record, the law and facts, before issuing and respective ruling is within my absolute discretion.”
The trial will take a break for Thanksgiving but when it returns, it is expected that more witnesses and bank representatives will enter the courtroom as well as Eric Trump.
The trial is expected to conclude on December 22, 2023.