What if the time is approaching for the famous Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan to lose the surname that identifies it? This is the question.
An appeals court refused this Thursday to postpone the start of the civil trial against Donald Trump, scheduled for next Monday, for the case in which the attorney general of the state of New York, Letitia James, claims 250 million dollars from the former president and his two children. She accuses her company of continuing to defraud banks by inflating the value of her possessions, for decades, to obtain better terms on loans and mortgage policies.
The former president’s lawyers requested in the appeal that Judge Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over the case, delay the hearing and, in addition, reject a good part of the claims made, considering that they have already prescribed. The court responded in two pages that everything continues as planned.
This is another setback for Trump, who already faces 91 criminal charges in four jurisdictions (Washington, Miami, Atlanta and New York) for the consequences of his actions after his four years of presidency. Among these crimes are some as serious as conspiring to annul the November 2020 electoral result and remain in power.
But the case raised by Attorney General James hits the waterline of Donald Trump’s ego. Question the myth widely spread by him that he is a great businessman. It comes preceded by Judge Engoron’s order this week in which he determined that the magnate bears responsibility for having persistently committed this fraud, also stripping him of control over his properties in New York.
The trial, which must be resolved by the judge himself and not by a jury, must determine whether he imposes other punishments on the company, such as that request for 250 million.
What has surprised the most about the judge’s order is that, if it is ratified, Trump could lose his properties in the Big Apple and in the state, a result that Attorney General James requested when filing the lawsuit last year. Accusing him of fraud he required the cancellation of his business certificates for any entity that had benefited from deceptive practices.
Judge Engoron accepted that request on Tuesday, ordered the revocation of those certificates and that those entities be dissolved under judicial administration. If there is no rectification, about a dozen properties would be affected by this measure.
The Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, its headquarters, display of tinsel and flagship of its brand, is one of those highlighted. The lawsuit indicated that it is one of the assets in which these manipulation practices were most used. That’s where the triplex is where she lived before moving to Florida and where she returns on his visits. He searched the apartment if necessary with dimensions four times larger than the real ones.
This building is today one of the most visited points by tourists from conservative states and “Trumpist” voters, who see it as an expression of the power of the ultra-conservative leader. For others it is the image of another big lie.
Other properties affected would be Trump Park Avenue, a skyscraper on the Avenue of the Americas, another Wall Street property, the Hudson Valley Golf Club or the Westchester Club, to name a few.
Trump’s lawyers and some real estate executives countered that James’ lawsuit did not take into account the value of the brand, nor the subjective nature of the valuations.
In his appeal, his lawyers indicated that Judge Engoron ignored in a previous resolution a decision of the appeals court in which the possibility that some accusations were too old and expired was considered. But this Thursday’s resolution seemed unmoved by this reasoning and there was no commitment, except to highlight that it had been considered. He did not clarify whether Engoron made a mistake, it was left to his analysis and whether he was wrong or not will be resolved later.
Trump still has one option left to block the trial. He can still appeal against the magistrate’s order from last Tuesday, but it is unclear whether the court will take it into account. The former president denied any wrongdoing. It’s all the fault of Judge Engoron, whom he blames for being a Democrat who acts for political purposes, and of prosecutor Letitia James, an African-American whom he accuses of being racist.
