Appeals Court Tosses Cold Water on Trump’s Bid to Delay NY Fraud Trial
  • 7 months ago
"Unlock the keys to your financial future and legacy –
Get it now -- https://shorturl.at/nvCU5 "

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Appeals Court Tosses Cold Water on Trump’s Bid to Delay NY Fraud Trial.
Donald J. Trump’s civil fraud trial over accusations that he inflated the value of his properties by billions of dollars will likely begin Monday after a New York appeals court rejected the former president’s attempt to delay it.

The appeals court, in a terse two-page order Thursday, effectively turned aside for now a lawsuit that Mr. Trump had filed against the trial judge, Arthur F. Engoron. The lawsuit had sought to delay the trial and ultimately throw out many accusations against the former president.

The case was brought last year by New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, who says Mr. Trump exaggerated his net worth in some years by as much as $2.2 billion to obtain favorable loan terms from banks. On Tuesday, in a surprising pretrial ruling, Justice Engoron struck Mr. Trump a heavy blow, finding him liable for fraudulently overvaluing his assets and stripping him of control over his New York properties.

That decision validated the heart of Ms. James’s case, but Mr. Trump is not without options. He could still challenge Justice Engoron’s ruling and seek an emergency pause of the trial, although it is unclear whether the appeals court would consider doing so.

With Mr. Trump’s liability for fraud largely resolved, the trial — which would be decided by Justice Engoron himself rather than a jury — would resolve other aspects of the case, most notably whether Mr. Trump and his company will face a financial penalty. Ms. James is seeking to recover $250 million in ill-gotten gains.

The appeals court’s Thursday decision to allow the trial to proceed punctuated a week of brutal legal losses for Mr. Trump as he grapples with the consequences of government investigations that, aside from Ms. James’s case, have resulted in four criminal indictments.

Ms. James’s civil case will be the first government action against the former president to reach trial. Her suit seeks to cast a harsh spotlight on Mr. Trump’s braggadocio and bluster, the traits that propelled his business and political careers, but were also the twin engines of a fraudulent scheme to fabricate his net worth.

Now that Justice Engoron has found that Mr. Trump’s actions violated New York law, the question remains: How much will he have to pay?

Mr. Trump’s best hope to derail the trial was the lawsuit against Justice Engoron, which the former president filed two weeks ago. In it, Mr. Trump’s lawyers argued that Justice Engoron had ignored an earlier appeals court decision in June that raised the prospect that some accusations against the former president might be too old to go to trial.

But the appeals court on Thursday appeared unmoved, and did not address those arguments in its ord
Recommended