New York AG Asks Court to Sanction Trump, For ‘Frivolous’ Arguments In Her Lawsuit
New York Attorney General Letitia James, who campaigned on ‘getting’ former President Donald Trump, wants a judge to sanction him and his attorneys for allegedly making “frivolous” arguments in her civil lawsuit against him.
On Tuesday, CNBC reported that James “asked that all the defendants be fined $10,000 collectively and that another fine of $10,000 be imposed on their lawyers collectively” for repeating what she deemed as failed legal arguments.
James’s legal action against Trump and some of his adult children contends that they engaged in fraudulent activities by exaggerating the Trump Organization’s assets by billions of dollars dating back to 2011. The suit seeks $250 million in damages and aims to prevent him and his adult children from holding positions as officers or directors in New York-registered businesses.
Ivanka Trump was removed from the fraud case in June.
In her filing on Tuesday, James stated that the defendants have presented identical legal arguments against her lawsuit on five separate occasions since last October, CNBC noted.
James wrote that Judge Arthur Engoron has some discretion to “impose financial sanctions upon any party or attorney in a civil action or proceeding who engages in frivolous conduct.”
Her filing noted that conduct can be considered frivolous if “it is completely without merit in law,” or if done “primarily to delay or prolong the resolution of litigation.”
Previously, Engoron ruled that Trump’s claim that James lacked standing to file the lawsuit as “borderline frivolous even the first time defendants made them.”
“Sophisticated defense counsel should have known better,” he wrote at the time.
Trump shredded New York Attorney General Letitia James in a verbal broadside on Friday over her allegations that he substantially overvalued his assets in order to get more favorable insurance and loan deals.
He railed at James, who campaigned on a platform of investigating and charging the former president and his company, on his Truth Social platform, as noted in a damning video posted by Eric Trump earlier this year.
“IN THE NYS A.G. LETITIA JAMES CASE, I WAS TARGETED, GIVEN NO JURY, NO EXTENSIONS, NO COMMERCIAL DIVISION, NO CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS, NO ANYTHING!” Trump posted in all caps.
“THE DEMOCRAT JUDGE HATES TRUMP WITH A PASSION. THE THING I HAVE IS A GREAT CASE BASED ON PHENOMENAL NUMBERS THAT SHOW A NET WORTH BILLIONS OF DOLLARS MORE THAN SHE VICIOUSLY & FALSELY CLAIMED, VERY LITTLE DEBT, BIG CASH, A POWERFUL DISCLAIMER CLAUSE, PAID OFF LOANS, NO DEFAULTS, ‘HAPPY’ BANKS, GREAT ASSETS,” he continued. “I WAS DEFAMED BY NYS – ELECTION INTERFERENCE!”
Earlier this year, a video montage was released that could do serious damage to James’ case, showing her vowing to bring down Trump when she was campaigning for the job. She bragged that she would take on the sitting president of the United States if New Yorkers voted for her.
Eric Trump shared the video of James promising to take down Trump on his Instagram page in January.
“This is not the United States Legal System – this is third-world prosecutorial misconduct. Promising to target a political opponent and their family before even entering office – it’s hard to believe this is America. Letitia James may go down as the most politically corrupt Attorney General in New York history,” he said in the caption of the video.
“Stay Tuned… we have sued her for her unethical behavior, and a judge will see every one of these videos, her viciousness and the pure malice of her actions and statements,” he added.
Trump’s attorneys have also argued that the documents James cited in her lawsuit do not contain any fraudulent information in asking for the case to be dismissed.
