Letitia James Scolds Donald Trump Appeal, Calls Arguments ‘Frivolous’

There is “overwhelming evidence” Donald Trump committed fraud, says New York Attorney General Letitia James in her counter argument to Donald Trump’s appeal of a $464 million fraud judgment.

She and her lawyers also wrote in papers to an appellate court that the trial judge was completely justified in fining Trump’s lawyers for frivolous filings. James uses the word “frivolous” 19 times in defending Judge Arthur Engoron’s actions.

Newsweek sought email comment from Trump’s attorney on Friday.

In September, 2023, Engoron fined five Trump lawyers $7,500 each for filing frivolous motions on issues that had already been decided. Engoron had warned them in advance that they risked sanctions if they raised the same issues again.

Engoron later found Trump, his adult sons Donald Jr. and Eric, and The Trump Organization liable for a scheme in which the value of Trump’s net worth and assets were unlawfully inflated to obtain more favorable business deals.

Trump was ordered to pay the enormous $464 million fine and was banned from the New York real estate business for three years. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump were ordered to each pay more than $4 million and were banned from doing business in New York for two years.

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has maintained his innocence.

His lawyers are now before the New York Appellate Court, seeking to overturn both the judgment against Trump and the attorney fines.

In their latest submission to the court, James and five of her lawyers wrote on Wednesday that the trial judge in New York Supreme Court was completely convinced that Trump and his organization had committed fraud.

“Following an eleven-week bench trial, the Supreme Court issued factual and credibility findings, and concluded that defendants had also engaged in criminal, illegal conduct,” they wrote.

“The court further found overwhelming evidence of defendants’ intent to defraud based on, inter alia, their knowledge of the statements’ material misrepresentations and their lack of credibility at trial.”

They also wrote that trial judge Arthur Engoron “required the defendants to disgorge $464.5 million, which included $363.8 in ill-gotten profits and $100.7 million in prejudgment interest.”

They wrote that Engoron’s ruling is “supported by overwhelming evidence that, in each Statement, defendants used a variety of deceptive strategies to vastly misrepresent the values of Mr. Trump’s assets.”

They wrote that Trump had massively overvalued his Trump Tower apartment and his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

“For example, defendants valued Mr. Trump’s apartment as if its square-footage was triple its actual size; valued rent regulated apartments as if they were unregulated; valued Mar-a-Lago as if deed restrictions that Mr. Trump signed did not exist; and valued golf properties by secretly including premiums that defendants represented were not included.”

Engoron “properly determined that defendants, who were each deeply involved in the misconduct, knew the Statements were misleading and intended to defraud,” they added.