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Former President Donald Trump is facing a $250 million civil lawsuit alleging he misrepresented the value of his real estate empire. New York Attorney General Letitia James filed suit against Mr Trump, his two grown sons and his company.
Former President Donald Trump is back on the New York Supreme Court. This time he is trying to keep the real estate from falling into the possession of the state of New York.
Mr. Trump is accused of exaggerating the value of his properties by billions of dollars to secure more favorable terms and deals from banks, investors and business partners. The charge carries a fine of at least $250 million.
" Donald Trump and the other defendants have committed ongoing and repeated fraud. My message is simple. No matter how powerful you are, no matter how much money you think you may have, no one is above the law ," said New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The lawsuit focuses on certain properties, which are suspected to be overvalued. In one instance, Mr. Trump said his Wall Street skyscraper was worth more than $735 million, while the official estimate was $550 million, a difference of nearly $200 million.
On another occasion, Mr Trump said his Mar-a-Lago villa was worth $739 million, a figure the New York attorney general says is 10 times higher than a reasonable estimate of value. of her. Mr. Trump strongly denies these accusations.
“ This is the sequel to the greatest witch hunt of all time. The banks took their money. There has never been a failure to pay the loans. There was no problem. Everything was fine. There was no crime. The crime is against me, because we have a corrupt prosecutor ," Mr. Trump said on his way out of court.
The Voice of America spoke with the former federal prosecutor, Neama Rahmani.
" Prosecutors will challenge Mr. Trump in two ways. They will try to lay out what day he and what he intended. The second way is expert testimony that the value of the properties was nowhere near what Mr. Trump, his lawyers and accountants claimed. "
Mr. Rahmani says that cases like this are rare.
" As a former federal prosecutor, these types of overstatements are not common. Some may escape if there are no reports or complaints to law enforcement. But if reported, this type of fraud against a bank constitutes a state and federal crime . "
As the testimony against him continues, Mr. Trump says the civil case and the four separate criminal indictments he faces are helping him politically.
" I can tell you that the voters understand the situation, because every time they raise false accusations against me, the support for me increases and this has never happened before ."
Esther Fuchs, a political science professor at New York's Columbia University, disputes Mr. Trump's assessment.
" The public's assessment of him seems to have been influenced by some of the indictments. Currently, about 59% of voters have a negative assessment of him. These indictments are a concern for Trump even if he thinks they are increasing his support" .
As the former president fights in court to protect real estate, it is still unclear how much his legal troubles will affect his efforts to win the White House./ VOA
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