Former President Donald Trump “grossly” exaggerated his net worth on financial disclosure forms for a decade, manipulating the accounts by as much as $2.2 billion in a single year, New York Attorney General Letitia James alleged in court papers filed. on Wednesday.
The new claims came in documents in which James’ office asked a judge to rule on parts of his $250 million lawsuit against the former president, his company, the Trump Organization, and sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. for alleged “staggering” fraud.
By allegedly lying on forms for a decade, Trump, 77, received more favorable loan and insurance terms, “reaping hundreds of millions of dollars in savings and ill-gotten gains,” the Manhattan Supreme Court filing states.
His net worth was actually between 17 and 39%, or between $812 million and $2.2 billion, less than what he claimed in annual statements of financial position from 2011 to 2021, the attorney general’s office said in court documents.
For example, Trump’s net worth in 2014 was listed at $5.77 billion on his disclosure form, when in reality it was $2.2 billion less, or $3.55 billion, the filing states.
Trial in the case is scheduled for October, but James’ office argued that the judge can at least rule on one of the fraud allegations before then.
Donald Trump allegedly inflated his net worth in annual disclosures, inflating it by $2.2 billion in 2014 alone, the office of Attorney General Letitia James has claimed.Getty Images
To make a decision on the sole fraud claim, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing the case, needs only to determine whether the financial statements were misleading and whether Trump repeatedly used the forms for financial transactions, said the attorney general.
“The answer to both questions is a resounding ‘yes’ based on the mountain of indisputable evidence,” the filing states.
Trump’s financial disclosures do not “even remotely reflect” what he was truly worth,” the attorney general’s office said.
James’ office made the claims in documents it filed in its $250 million fraud case against Trump, the Trump Organization and others.Getty Images
The 45th president and his team “employed a variety of deceptive schemes to grossly inflate values,” the papers allege.
Trump allegedly lied about the cash on hand he had and overvalued his real estate holdings, adding a value boost to the Trump brand and ignoring legal restrictions on development rights, the attorney general argued in her 2022 lawsuit.
For example, Trump said his property at 40 Wall Street was worth $530 million in 2013, when it was appraised at $220 million the previous year, the attorney general said.
Trump’s sons, Eric and Donald Trump Jr., are also listed in the lawsuit. AFP via Getty Images
He also claimed his Trump Tower triplex was 30,000 square feet, when in fact it was just under 11,000 square feet, putting the unit’s value at $327 million, a price no apartment in New York can buy for. has ever sold, James argued in the lawsuit.
Trump’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
The embattled real estate mogul is facing four separate criminal charges in four different states, including the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office “secret money case,” the Department of Justice in Florida, another federal case in Washington DC for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election result, and a Georgia case accusing him of trying to overturn the result of the Peach state election that same year.
Trump has maintained his innocence in all the cases he faces, calling them politically motivated.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn