Donald Trump faces fresh legal danger on Monday as a civil fraud trial against the former president and two of his sons begins in New York, threatening the Republican frontrunner’s business empire as he campaigns to retake the White House with four criminal cases looming.
In Monday’s case, Judge Arthur Engoron has already ruled that Trump and his sons Eric and Don Jr. committed fraud by inflating the value of the real estate and financial assets of the Trump Organization for years.
Trump said late Sunday night he planned to be present for the start of the trial Monday morning.
“I’m going to Court tomorrow morning to fight for my name and reputation,” the 77-year-old wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“This whole case is a sham!!!” he added.
In addition to this civil case, Trump also faces several major criminal proceedings in the months ahead.
He is scheduled to appear before a federal judge in Washington on March 4, on charges of trying to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election won by Joe Biden.
In the New York civil case, Engoron ruled that Trump, his two eldest sons and other Trump Organization executives lied to tax collectors, lenders and insurers for years in a scheme that exaggerated the value of their properties by $812 million to $2.2 billion between 2014 and 2021.
As a result, the judge revoked the business licenses that allowed the Trump Organization to operate some of its New York properties.
Actually enforcing such penalties would be “a major blow to Donald Trump’s ability to do business in the State of New York going forward,” Will Thomas, a professor of business law at the University of Michigan, told AFP.
Under that kind of pressure, Trump — who made his reputation and fortune as a real estate mogul in the 1980s and had promised to bring his cut-throat industry tactics to the Oval Office — could eventually lose control over many of his company’s flagship properties, such as his 5th Avenue Trump Tower in Manhattan.
