New York Judge Denies Donald Trump’s Motion To Dismiss $250M Lawsuit: ‘Frivolous’

More bad news for Donald Trump and his family, as a New York state judge denied motions from the former president, his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and daughter Ivanka Trump to dismiss the $250 million fraud lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James back in September last year. If you’ll recall, James filed the lawsuit against Trump, his three adult children, the Trump Organization and its senior management, accusing it of committing extensive tax fraud between 2011 and 2021 by intentionally lying to lenders and insurers and over-inflating assets.

“The statements of financial condition were greatly exaggerated, grossly inflated, objectively false, and therefore fraudulent and illegal,” James said at the time after the lawsuit had been filed. “Claiming money that you do not have does not amount to the ‘Art of the Deal.’ It’s the Art of the Steal.” If James’ lawsuit is successful, Trump will be prohibited from engaging in real estate transactions in New York for five years, as well as permanently being banned from serving as an officer or a director of a New York corporation.

Judge Denies Trumps’ Motion To Dismiss Lawsuit

New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron deemed some of the arguments the family’s lawyers brought forward to dismiss the lawsuit as “frivolous,” having previously rejected some of their legal arguments after he appointed an independent monitor to oversee the Trump Organization’s business dealings.  

In a written order on January 6th, Engoron said, “The first three arguments were borderline frivolous even the first-time defendants made them. Reading these arguments was, to quote the baseball sage Lawrence Peter (‘Yogi’) Berra, ‘Déjà vu all over again.'”

READ MORE: US Courts Just Ruled Against Donald Trump Org. In Tax Fraud Case

Engoron also added that he could have rightfully imposed sanctions for "frivolous litigation" on Trump’s "sophisticated" defense lawyers who "should have known better" but decided against it. "In its discretion this Court will not impose sanctions, which the Court believes are unnecessary, having made its point," he added. In addition to this, Engoron also rejected claims from the Trump family that some of the alleged fraudulent conduct had actually happened outside the statute of limitations allowed under law.

Ivanka argued that the accusations against her should be dismissed, since she left the Trump Organization in 2017 to work full time as a White House senior advisor, and therefore the claims are time-barred. She also added that she didn't personally falsify any business records, but Engoron dismissed this, saying that she could still be liable for being part of "continuing wrongs."

New York Attorney General Letitia James Reacts To The News

Naturally, James was thrilled with Engoron's decision, and gave her thoughts via a short statement obtained by the Washington Post. "Once again, Donald Trump’s attempts to evade the law have been rejected," James said in the statement.

"We sued Mr. Trump because we found that he engaged in years of extensive financial fraud to enrich himself and cheat the system," she added. "Today’s decision makes clear that Donald Trump is not above the law and must answer for his actions in court."

Trump attorney Alina Habba reportedly said in a statement that Engoron's decision would be appealed, which doesn’t really surprise us. The case is currently scheduled to be heard in October later this year; and if it goes ahead as planned, it would fall right in the middle of Trump's latest run for the presidency in the 2024 election, so he will most likely be a little preoccupied and not thrilled with the timing.