MANHATTAN (CN) — New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a state judge on Tuesday to impose sanctions on former President Donald Trump, along with his lawyers, and two eldest sons, for repeatedly restating “borderline frivolous” arguments that have already been rejected in the civil fraud case to go to trial next month.
James brought the long-awaited and sprawling civil suit against Trump in New York Supreme Court one year ago, seeking $250 million in damages from Trump and his family’s namesake real estate corporation for routinely inflating his net worth by billions of dollars to manipulate more favorable loan terms.
In a 9-page sanctions memo filed Tuesday, the attorney general’s office accused Trump and his co-defendants of repeatedly lodged legal defense theories since October 2022 that presiding Judge Arthur Engoron already rejected.
“Here, the lack of legal bases for defendants’ standing, capacity, disclaimer, and disgorgement arguments should have been readily apparent to defendants and their counsel from the prior rulings of this court and the First Department,” the filing states. “Further, because defendants and their counsel were previously admonished by the court that their conduct in raising previously-rejected arguments was frivolous and sanctionable, and because 'sophisticated defense counsel should have known better,' the court should impose sanctions against defendants and their counsel in the maximum allowable sum.”
They are asking for a total of $20,000 in sanctions, comprised of $10,000 against all the defendants collectively and $10,000 against all of their lawyers collectively.
The prosecutors say the lack of legal basis for Trump's standing defense being rehashed again on pending motions for summary judgment has already been communicated to the defendants by Engoron on two separate occasions, and by the New York Appellate Division's First Department.
Engoron previously admonished Trump's lawyers that these arguments for lack of standing were “borderline frivolous” and sanctionable when they raised them in November 2022, the memo states.
Trump’s three eldest children, Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric Trump, were also named as co-defendants, along with two longtime company executives, Allen Weisselberg and Jeffrey McConney.
The sanctions request does not name Ivanka Trump, who won dismissal from the case in July by the appellate court.
A spokesperson for the Trump Organization on Tuesday fired back at the attorney general's motion, calling James' sanctions request “both frivolous and sanctionable.”
“All of the arguments raised were appropriate for summary judgment and the NYAG’s latest attempt to shift the focus away from the fact that they have no case, while also simultaneously ignoring the Appellate Division’s recent decision, is unconscionable,” a company representative said in a statement.
Trump's defense attorneys in the civil case did not immediately respond to request for comment Tuesday afternoon.
In hours of deposition testimony made public last week, Trump said was a “terrible thing” that James was suing him over claims he made on annual financial statements about his net worth and the value of his skyscrapers, golf courses and other assets.
Trump’s lawyers released his 479-page deposition transcript in a flurry of court filings ahead of a Sept. 22 hearing on summary judgment where Judge Engoron could resolve part or all of the case before it is scheduled to go to trial in early October.
Attorney General James pointed to evidence that shows Trump inflated his net worth by up to 39%, or more than $2 billion, in some years.
Trump is currently the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, while fielding four criminal cases in New York, D.C., Florida, and Georgia.
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