A request from Trump for transferring the sweeping civil lawsuit from New York state Attorney General Letitia James away from Judge Arthur Engoron was denied by an administrative judge this week.
Engoron previously held Trump in contempt of court for failing to sufficiently comply with James’s previous investigation. The probe and subsequent lawsuit deal with deceptive statements of value for dozens of assets at the Trump family business, and in the lawsuit, James is hoping to block Trump and his three most prominent adult children from leading businesses in New York and to force the return of $250 million she tied to the deceptive asset valuations. Engoron also fined Trump $110,000 for previously failing to meet James’s demands, and he has also dealt with other disputes over evidentiary materials during the course of the sprawling investigation. Trump’s side wanted the lawsuit moved to the Commercial Division, arguing it would be a better fit there, although a hope for evading Engoron’s further scrutiny — considering his past action against Trump — presumably also underpinned the push.
Trump lawyer Alina Habba accused James of trying to keep the case before Engoron with a recent motion for a preliminary injunction asking for urgent restrictions on the Trump Organization’s financial practices, including new limits on the company transferring assets without court approval. Trump formed a new company in Delaware in the days before James filed her lawsuit, and he subsequently sought recognition in New York. As if the mere existence of the company wasn’t enough to warrant concern about potentially evasive practices in response to James’s work, it’s also named Trump Organization II. Predictably, Trump’s side claimed they weren’t trying to evade consequences potentially associated with James’s efforts. Meanwhile, James had specifically pushed for keeping the civil lawsuit in front of Judge Engoron. The judge also dealt with concerns about the production of documents by Cushman & Wakefield, a real estate services firm that worked with Trump.
In recent court filings, James revealed portions of Donald Trump Jr.’s answers under oath. Among other claims, the former president’s son alleged his knowledge of a particular set of accounting principles was generally limited to the contents of an introductory college course, potentially trying to evade scrutiny for the deceptive financial statements. He passed off responsibility for the statements to others, even after he became one of the trustees leading the entire company after Donald became president. Trump himself has now repeatedly referred to James as “Peekaboo James.” The precise origin of the jab is unclear, but precedent obviously makes it sound startlingly racist. (James is Black.)
