Donald Trump’s lawyers will make their closing arguments on Thursday as they attempt to see off a legal judgment that could impose a $370m fraud fine on the former president’s family firm and ban it from doing business in New York state.
Trump reportedly planned to deliver his own closing statement at the trial – a last chance to defend himself against charges he inflated the value of his assets on financial statements for profit. But the judge overseeing the case blocked that move on Wednesday.
The former president may still be in attendance at the trial. The last time Trump appeared in person for his fraud trial was at the testimony of the New York University professor Eli Bartov, an expert witness who testified on behalf of the defense team, in early December. Trump was supposed to return to the witness stand a second time shortly after but backed out at the last minute, saying he has “nothing more to say other than that this is a complete & total election interference (Biden campaign!) witch hunt” in an all-caps rant on Truth Social.
The New York fraud trial had been on a nearly month-long break for the holidays since December after 11 weeks of witness testimony. It is unclear when Engoron will issue a verdict, though he has indicated he will make a decision by the end of the month. Because the trial is a bench trial, there is no jury, and Engoron is the sole decider of the case.
In a pre-trial ruling, Engoron already found Trump, his adult son and the former Trump Organization executives Allen Weisselberg and Jeff McConney guilty of fraud, saying they botched the value of various Trump properties on government forms. Engoron ordered the dissolution of Trump’s real estate business in New York, though an appeals court paused the order as it reviews the ruling. It is unclear when the appeals court will issue its decision about the pre-trial judgment.
In its closing arguments filed in early January – a nearly 100-page document – the office of the New York attorney general, Letitia James, argued the 44 days of the trial proved Trump and his fellow executives had the “requisite intent to defraud”.
“Defendants failed to present any legally relevant response to the [state’s] proof. It does not matter how many times defendants’ counsel recite there was ‘no reliance’ and were ‘no victims’,” prosecutors wrote in the brief, saying that the court has an obligation “in protecting the integrity of the marketplace” under state law.
The state argues Trump knowingly inflated the value of his assets to make deals with lenders, such as Deutsche Bank, that ultimately helped him purchase properties including the Old Post Office in Washington DC and a golf course at Ferry Point in the Bronx. In their brief, prosecutors said $370m sums up the total amount of money Trump had saved by making himself seem richer. Prosecutors are also asking to bar Trump and the other defendants from serving as officers for any New York-based corporations for five years.
In their own closing briefs, Trump’s lawyers said that “errors or misstatements happen all the time in accounting”.
“If there are no indicia of fraud such as concealment, forgery, or deceit, then there is no basis to determine that [financial statements] are fraudulent, and any misstatements are just accidental errors,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
Much of the future of the case lies on the New York appeals court ruling. If Engoron rules against Trump, the former president’s legal team will likely appeal any fines and other punishments.
