Aug. 30 (UPI) — Former President Donald Trump has been accused of overstating his net worth by more than $2 billion, according to a court filing Wednesday by the New York attorney general’s office.
The motion is part of a $250 million civil lawsuit against the former president, three of his children and the Trump Organization.
According to the filing, the attorney general’s office accused Trump of valuing his Florida Mar-a-Lago estate “as if it could be sold as a private single family residence for amounts ranging between $347 million and $739 million,” while the property’s restricted use was assessed by Palm Beach County to be between $18 million and $27.6 million.
The motion also accuses Trump of adding an extra 15% to 30% “brand premium” to the value of his golf clubs and condominiums in New York City.
When the attorney general’s office adjusted Trump’s financial statements for a 10-year period, “it reduced Mr. Trump’s net worth by between 17-39% in each year, or between $812 million to $2.2 billion depending on the year.”
“Based on the undisputed evidence, no trial is required for the court to determine that defendants presented grossly and materially inflated asset values in the statements of financial condition and then used those SFCs repeatedly in business transactions to defraud bankers and insurers,” the attorney general’s office wrote in the motion.
An SFC is a “statement of financial condition.”
“Notwithstanding defendants’ horde of 13 experts, at the end of the day, this is a documents case, and the documents leave no shred of doubt that Mr. Trump’s SFCs do not even remotely reflect the ‘estimated current value’ of his assets as they would trade between well-informed market participants.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James filed the civil lawsuit last year, alleging Trump, his children Eric, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka, as well as the company illegally schemed to amass $250 million by fraudulently overvaluing assets.
The lawsuit alleges the Trump Organization deceived lenders, insurers and tax authorities regarding the business, properties and golf courses.
Trump’s legal team has not responded, but could oppose the motion for summary judgment.
The trial is scheduled to begin in October.
