00:00 A New York judge has found Donald Trump and his adult sons liable for fraud and cancelled
00:05 the Trump Organization's business certification, saying the Trumps provided false financial
00:11 statements for roughly a decade.
00:14 Judge Arthur Engueron's ruling came days before the civil case involving the New York
00:19 Attorney General's office and the former president was set to go to trial.
00:24 Engueron granted Attorney General Letitia James motion for summary judgment, finding
00:30 Trump, his sons, and others to be liable as a matter of law for persistent violations
00:36 of New York state law.
00:38 He found the financial statements the Trumps provided to lenders and insurers for about
00:43 a decade to be false and said they repeatedly engaged in fraud.
00:48 The decision is a blow to Trump and a complete rejection of his arguments that he didn't
00:53 inflate the values of his golf courses, hotels, homes at Mar-a-Lago and Seven Springs on financial
00:59 statements that were repeatedly used in business.
01:03 "Today, a judge ruled in our favor and found that Donald Trump and the Trump Organization
01:09 engaged in years of financial fraud," James said in a statement Tuesday night.
01:14 "We look forward to presenting the rest of our case at trial."
01:19 The Attorney General has sought $250 million in damages, a ban on the Trumps from serving
01:26 as officers of a business in New York, and to stop the company from engaging in business
01:31 transaction for five years.
01:34 The judge canceled the business certifications of the Trump entities that are defendants
01:38 in the case, including the Trump Organization, and said a receiver will be put in place to
01:44 manage the dissolution of the corporate entities.
01:48 There are two New York properties that are part of the lawsuit, the Commercial Tower
01:52 at 40, Wall Street and the Trump Family Compound at Seven Springs.
01:58 However, the full breadth of his ruling remains unclear.
02:02 Questions remain as to how the receiver would dissolve the properties, if the ruling would
02:07 impact properties located outside of New York State, including Mar-a-Lago, and if the Trumps
02:13 could transfer the New York-based assets into a new company located out of state.
02:20 Judge calls defendants' arguments "bogus."
02:23 Among other things, Trump is accused of inflating the value of his triplex apartment at Trump
02:28 Tower by three times its size, resulting in an overvaluation of between $114 million to
02:36 $207 million, Ingerolln wrote.
02:40 A discrepancy of this order of magnified by a real estate developer sizing up his own
02:45 living space of decades can only be considered fraud, Ingerolln wrote.
02:51 Exacerbating defendants' obstreperous conduct is their continued reliance on bogus arguments
02:57 in papers and oral argument, Ingerolln wrote.
03:02 In defendants' world, rent-regulated apartments are worth the same as unregulated apartments,
03:08 restricted land is worth the same as unrestricted land, restrictions can evaporate into thin
03:14 air.
03:15 A disclaimer by one party casting responsibility on another party exonerates the other party's
03:21 lies, the judge added.
03:24 That is a fantasy world, not the real world.
03:28 The state Supreme Court judge likened the Trumps' legal defense of his fraudulent financial
03:32 statements to a Chico Marx line in the comedy Duck Soup.
03:36 Well, who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?
03:41 Trump condemned the ruling in a statement, accusing Ingerolln of "doing the bidding of
03:45 James" as the former president campaigns to return to the White House.
03:51 It is a great company that has been slandered and maligned by this politically motivated
03:56 witch hunt.
03:57 It is very unfair, and I call for help from the highest courts in New York State, or the
04:03 federal system, to intercede.
04:06 This is not America.
04:08 Trump continued.
04:10 Trump's attorney Christopher Kyes called the ruling "completely disconnected from the facts
04:15 and governing law."
04:17 He added, "While the full impact of the decision remains unclear, what is clear is that President
04:23 Trump and his family will seek all available appellate remedies to rectify this miscarriage
04:29 of justice."
04:31 In a statement on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Eric Trump said, "Today,
04:37 I lost all faith in the New York legal system.
04:41 Never before have I seen such hatred toward one person by a judge, a coordinated effort
04:46 with the Attorney General, to destroy a man's life, company, and accomplishments.
04:52 We have run an exceptional company, never missing a loan payment, making banks hundreds
04:58 of millions of dollars, developing some of the most iconic assets in the world.
05:04 Yet today, the persecution of our family continues."
05:08 James has alleged that Trump, three of his children, his companies and his business executives
05:14 defrauded lenders, insurers and other entities.
05:19 An appeals court dismissed Trump's eldest daughter, Ivanka, as a co-defendant from the
05:24 case in June.
05:26 In the lawsuit, James claims that Trump reaped a substantial financial benefit by putting
05:32 forward faulty information in his financial statements, including $150 million in the
05:38 form of favorable interest rates he obtained from TH.
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