Jacket reversal. Donald Trump believes that he has “already testified to everything” in the current trial against him for financial fraud. Contrary to what he had announced, he will not testify on Monday in his own defense, the 77-year-old former president published on the Truth Social network.
Donald Trump, his eldest sons Donald Jr and Eric and other leaders of the Trump Organization are accused of having colossally inflated the value of the skyscrapers, luxury hotels and golf courses at the heart of his empire during the 2010s, to obtain more favorable loans from banks and better insurance conditions.
Since the start of the trial on October 2, the Republican billionaire has railed against justice each time he comes to court, denouncing a “witch hunt” or a “trial worthy of banana republics”. After attacks on his clerk, the judge banned Donald Trump from speaking about his team and imposed two fines totaling $15,000 for violating the order.
Bad business
Unlike the criminal trials that await him in 2024, including that for his alleged maneuvers aimed at reversing the result of the November 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump does not risk prison time in this civil case. But he is playing big and things are off to a bad start.
Even before the opening of the proceedings, Judge Arthur Engoron estimated at the end of September that the prosecution presented “conclusive evidence that between 2014 and 2021, the defendants overvalued the assets” of the group by “812 million [à] 2.2 billion dollars” depending on the year, in the figures recorded on Donald Trump’s annual financial statements. As a result of “repeated fraud”, he ordered the liquidation of companies managing these assets, such as the Trump Tower on 5th Avenue in New York or the almost century-old skyscraper at 40 Wall Street. Measures suspended on appeal.
The trial concerns several other offenses, such as insurance fraud, and financial penalties sought by the New York State Attorney General’s Office, which is seeking $250 million. Donald Trump’s lawyers denounce an empty file.