Judge considers that Donald Trump committed fraud in New York

UA judge in the state of New York concluded this Tuesday that Donald Trump gave fraudulent information and overvalued valuations of his properties in order to access better loans and insurancea scheme that will have been carried out for around ten years.

Judge Arthur Engoron’s conclusion comes a few days before the case between the New York Attorney General’s Office and the former president goes to trial as part of a case of alleged tax fraud on the part of the tycoon and his companies.

At the center of this case are 12 properties owned by the former president, including his iconic Trump Tower, which towers over New York City, his Mar-a-Lago resort and several golf courses, with justice believing that the value of these properties was inflated so that the businessman and his children and their companies could obtain greater loan facilities.

Letitia James, New York’s attorney general, accused Trump of inflating his properties by around 2 billion euros. The trial is scheduled to begin on October 2nd.

Arthur Engoron writes, in a summarized conclusion, cited by ABC News, that the country’s former leader, his children and others involved in the case are “responsible” for creating “fraudulent assessments”even mentioning a “false and misleading square meter count” in an apartment on 5th Avenue, in midtown Manhattan, New York.

His own residence in Trump Tower, also in New York, was also inflated to values ​​ranging from around 107 million euros to almost 200 million euros, with Engoron stressing that the former president told authorities and banks that the apartment was triple its true size.

“A discrepancy of this magnitude, by a real estate mogul who has increased his size over decades, could be considered fraud.”finished

As for his resort in Florida, in Mar-a-Lago (a place surrounded by controversy due to another case, regarding confidential documents from the White House), Engoron said that the value of the club was inflated by at least 2,300%, which would imply that the land is worth between 17 and 26 million euros, and not the values ​​considered by Trump, who valued it at at least 400 million euros.

The judge also revoked the business certificates of all defendants in the case, which will seriously limit Trump’s personal operations in the state of New York – where he does not currently reside, as his permanent residence is now in Florida.

Engoron also considered that the suspects are “likely to carry out persistent fraud”. This also comes after the attorney general’s office said last week that there was “overwhelming” evidence to take the former president to court.

[Notícia atualizada às 22h38]

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