New York

Former United States president Donald Trump exited a New York state court on Monday (Oct 2) where he and his family business are standing trial in a civil fraud case. New York Attorney General Letitia James has accused Trump, a 2024 presidential hopeful, of inflating the value of his assets by billions of dollars to secure better loan and insurance terms.

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Attorney General Letitia James is seeking at least $250 million in fines, a permanent ban against Trump and his sons Donald Jr and Eric from running businesses in New York, and a five-year commercial real estate ban against Trump and the Trump Organization. The case concerns accusations by the attorney general that Trump inflated his assets and his own net worth from 2011 to 2021 to obtain favourable bank loans and lower insurance premiums.

At the Manhattan courtroom on Monday, Trump and his sons Donald Jr and Eric were accused of inflating the prices of their properties to secure better loans and insurance deals, and to pay less tax. 

Before the trial began, Trump, 77, told reporters that the civil fraud case was a "scam," a "sham" and a political vendetta. And as the session broke off for a lunch break, Trump called Letitia James  "a corrupt person, a terrible person. Driving people out of New York."

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As he exited the courtroom, the former president spoke to reporters and said that the statute of limitations is a very real thing in the US. 

"The last 5 minutes were outstanding because the judge essentially conceded that. He said, Jeff Sessions, that we won at the court of appeals is in effect. Therefore about 80% of the case is over. I was going to come out and say that, as you know, we're not entitled to a jury, which is pretty unusual in the United States of America, so we think it's very unfair that I don't have a jury," Trump said.

“As far as the jury's concerned, it's much different now than it was 20 minutes ago. And we were going to come out and complain that in this country you’re entitled to a jury. But we very much appreciate the judge's decision today or his statement today on the statute of limitations, which is a very big thing, is a limited non-jury. And we did nothing wrong,” he added.

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