The New York Attorney General, Letitia James, is grabbing headlines again. According to James, Donald Trump overstated his net worth, and not by just a little bit. In filings made last week, James claimed that Trump overestimated his worth by as much as $2.2 billion.
The Deception
So, this is about far more than Trump’s overall worth, clearly.
By overstating his worth, if the allegations are true, Trump can be hit with fraud charges.
The problem is that the alleged financial information was used to secure loans.
James is seeking $250 million in sanctions that would also basically shut down all Trump Organization business in New York.
Andrew Amer, an attorney for James’ office, wrote, “No trial is required for the court to determine that defendants presented grossly and materially inflated asset values…repeatedly in business transactions to defraud banks and insurers.”
This case has gone into the out-of-sight, out-of-mind category for most people, but you better believe it is back on the radar now.
This is not a case that would prevent Trump from running for office, but it has huge financial implications for Trump.
Right now, in all honesty, this presidential campaign is saving Trump from real financial hardship.
If he did not have this campaign money, he would be paying all these legal fees out of his own pocket.
To date, I believe the number is floating around $50 million or so that has been paid to attorneys, and they have not even gotten into the meat of these cases.
Now that they have gone through discovery and trials are coming up, Trump will have legal bills in the hundreds of millions of dollars, all paid via his legal fund and campaign contributions.
If you add a $250 million fine to that, Trump could be out roughly $500 million when all is said and done.
Source: CBS News
