'Intent to defraud': NY AG slams Trump appeal of civil fraud penalties

In 2024, former President Donald Trump has faced a variety of legal problems in New York City, from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr.'s hush money/falsified business records case to journalist E. Jean Carroll's defamation lawsuits to New York State Attorney General's civil fraud case — which ended with a $454 million judgement against him.

Trump and his attorneys have been appealing that judgement, claiming that it was politically motivated and that he's being punished for violations that "do not exist at all."

But James, in a legal brief submitted on Wednesday, August 21, aggressively defended the judgement — laying out reasons she considers it perfectly reasonable.

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In the case, James alleged that the Trump Organization deceived banks and lenders by greatly exaggerating the value of its assets.

"As trial testimony showed," James' office told the New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division in the brief, "defendants used these strategies to reverse engineer the value of Mr. Trump's assets to achieve a net worth that Mr. Trump wanted."

James' office defended Justice Arthur Engoron's decisions in the case, citing "overwhelming evidence" that the Trump Organization "acted with an intent to defraud" in an "illegal scheme to misleadingly inflate the net worth" of Trump's assets "by as much $2.2 billion a year."

James' office also said that Engoron "properly determined that defendants, who were each deeply involved in the misconduct, knew the Statements were misleading and intended to defraud."

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