The judge presiding over Donald Trump‘s civil fraud trial told his attorney Wednesday that the former president “will not” be delivering closing arguments, saying he has not heard from counsel after “the third extended deadline.”
“Not having heard from you by the third extended deadline (noon today), I assume that Mr. Trump will not agree to the reasonable, lawful limits I have imposed as a precondition to giving a closing statement above and beyond those given by his attorneys, and that, therefore, he will not be speaking in court tomorrow,” Judge Arthur Engoron wrote in a letter to Trump attorney Chris Kise, according to court records.
Engoron’s letter comes after Trump indicated this week he would deliver closing arguments on Thursday in the civil fraud trial against his New York business empire, the Trump Organization.
The judge issued a pretrial ruling against Trump in September, finding his company liable for deceiving banks, insurers, and others by overvaluing assets and exaggerating Trump’s net worth on paperwork used to make deals and secure loans.
Trump has appealed Engoron’s pretrial decision, and another one of his attorneys, Alina Habba, has cited experts who testified at the trial that Trump “did nothing wrong, that his statements actually gave too much information and there were no victims.”
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New York Attorney General Letitia James has asked the judge to force Trump to pay $370 million as a penalty and to ban the former president and two top executives from ever again doing real estate business in New York. The office also asked for a five-year ban on the participation of Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, the former president’s adult sons, in the New York real estate industry.
Closing arguments for the monthslong trial are slated to begin Thursday. Engoron has said he could issue a decision in the case as soon as this month once closing arguments are complete.