Trump appears in New York City for $250 million civil fraud trial

Former President Donald Trump arrived in New York City on Monday for the start of a civil fraud trial after he was found liable last month for inflating his net worth by billions of dollars.

Justice Arthur Engoron, a Democrat, is presiding over the nonjury trial, which is taking place at 10:00 a.m. in a lower Manhattan courtroom and is expected to last several hours.

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The trial will examine six claims in a sweeping lawsuit brought by Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James, who found Trump and the Trump Organization grossly overstated the value of several of their assets, including Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

In a 35-page ruling, Engoron found that property, for example, was valued at around $18 million, while Trump maintains that it is worth more than $1 billion.

The morning of the hearing, James said in a statement, “For years, Donald Trump falsely inflated his net worth to enrich himself and cheat the system. We won the foundation of our case last week and proved that his purported net worth has long been rooted in incredible fraud.”

She added, “In this country, there are consequences for this type of persistent fraud, and we look forward to demonstrating the full extent of his fraud and illegality during trial.”

James is seeking $250 million in damages in the case and aiming to prohibit Trump from doing business in New York.

Trump, the leading Republican in the 2024 presidential election, has attacked James and Engoron as “racist” and “deranged,” respectively, and he has criticized the case as “fake” and a form of election interference.

Speaking to reporters ahead of entering the courtroom, Trump proclaimed his innocence in the case and reiterated that he believed the lawsuit was an attempt to hurt his election prospects.

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“Everything was perfect. There was no crime. The crime is against me because we have a corrupt district attorney, a corrupt attorney general, and it all comes down from the DOJ,” Trump said. “They totally coordinated this in Washington because I’m leading. I’m the leading candidate. I’m leading Biden by 10 points, and I’m leading the Republicans by 50 and 60 points.”

This story is developing.