The New York Attorney General asked a judge on Thursday to immediately freeze the Trump Organization from moving its assets out of the state, anticipating that former President Donald Trump might shift money away from his business to protect it from the AG’s $250 million lawsuit against the family company.
AG Letitia James is also asking to have a court monitor immediately oversee the company’s financial activities to prevent it from continuing to misrepresent assets and liabilities on bank loan applications.
Her office’s court filing on Thursday claims that Trump and one of his adult executive sons, Eric Trump, continue to dodge a court process server to avoid being officially notified of the impending lawsuit. It’s the latest sign that Trump is relying on his previous legal tactic of delaying the investigation at every turn.
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James revealed that “the Trump Organization now appears to be taking steps to restructure its business to avoid existing responsibilities under New York law,” noting that the company registered a brand new corporation—Trump Organization II LLC—on the very same day she sued last month. That entity is listed as a “foreign corporation” based in Delaware under the name “Trump Organization LLC,” said the court filing.
“The Trump Organization offered no assurances” that it would not transfer large sums of money out of the state while the case is pending, her office claimed in a court filing.
Last month, James concluded her office’s three-year investigation into the Trumps that explored what investigators deemed rampant business and tax fraud. Her office filed a lawsuit that seeks to hit the family’s eponymous company with $250 million in fines and strike it with a corporate death penalty by barring it from ever operating in New York City—or allowing it to get loans from banks in what’s essentially the financial capital of the world. Her lawsuit also wants to bar Donald, Don Jr., Ivanka, and Eric Trump from serving as business executives in the state for several years.
The real estate and marketing moguls have lambasted the investigation as a political witch hunt, but damning evidence about the family’s farcical financial statements and property value inflation have already ruined business relations and led them to get dropped by their own corporate accounting firm.
Trump's lawyer in the case, Alina Habba, said the AG is simply trying to justify having the case remain before a state court judge who oversaw the investigation—and repeatedly forced the Trumps to turn over evidence.
"The OAG’s filing is nothing more than a thinly-veiled attempt to keep this case with Justice Engoron rather than have it transferred to the Commercial Division where it belongs. We have repeatedly provided assurance, in writing, that the Trump Organization has no intention of doing anything improper. This is simply another stunt which Ms. James hopes will aid her failing political campaign," Habba said in a statement.
