Trump lawyer D. John Sauer argued that the lawsuit brought by Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, stretched the state's consumer protection laws, insinuating the government focused on transactions where there were “no victims" and “no complaints.”
Trump's lenders, insurers and others he did business with were “sophisticated counterparties" that performed their own due diligence rather than relying solely on the annual financial statements that he provided — documents that Engoron ruled wildly inflated his net worth.
The case, Sauer said, “involves a clear cut violation of the statute of limitations" with some transactions dating back more than a decade. If the verdict is allowed to stand, he argued, "people can’t do business in real estate" without fearing they'll face similar scrutiny.
The state's deputy solicitor general, Judith Vale, countered that “there was absolutely a public impact and a public interest here,” noting that Trump lenders including Deutsche Bank incurred undue risk based on his alleged misrepresentations.
But Judge Peter H. Moulton questioned if James' office was engaging in “mission creep,” and whether the law she sued Trump under had "morphed into something that it was not meant to do.” Later, Moulton questioned Vale about Engoron's hefty punishment, observing that “the immense penalty in this case is troubling.”
Trump and his co-defendants are also challenging Engoron’s decision to rule, even before testimony had begun, that the state had proven that Trump had fraudulently inflated his financial statements. The judge ordered Trump and the other defendants to pay $363.9 million in penalties — a sum that has now grown with interest to more than $489 million.
Trump posted a $175 million bond in April to halt collection of the judgment and prevent the state from seizing his assets while he appeals. The bond guarantees payment if the judgment is upheld. If Trump wins he’ll get the money back.
If either side doesn’t like the outcome, it can ask the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, to consider taking the case. Trump has vowed to fight the verdict “all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.”
