N.Y. judge finds Donald Trump committed business fraud for a decade

Author: Editors Desk Source: The Washington Post

September 26, 2023 at 18:49

Former president Donald Trump pauses before ending his remarks at a rally in Summerville, S.C., Sept. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Artie Walker Jr., File)

NEW YORK — A judge overseeing a $250 million lawsuit against Donald Trump ruled the ex-president and his company committed fraud by inflating his net worth in business transactions, narrowing the scope of what the state’s attorney general must prove at an upcoming civil trial.

New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron also ordered the cancellation of Trump business certificates and imposed sanctions on attorneys representing him, two of his adult children, two other company executives and the business for repeating arguments that failed multiple times previously and were called “borderline frivolous."

Five attorneys have been ordered to pay $7,500 each to a state organization that reimburses clients whose attorneys misused funds. One of the attorneys sanctioned by Engoron is Christopher Kise, a former Florida solicitor general who also represents Trump in federal court there in the indictment over the retention and mishandling of classified documents.