In a lengthy filing made in court and highlighted by sources including the news outlet The Messenger, New York’s state Attorney General Letitia James has asked that Donald Trump be barred from working in a variety of corporate capacities in New York for the rest of his life. She wants a ban applying to any participation in the real estate industry and any potential stint as an officer or director at any New York corporation or legal entity in apparently any industry at all.
The requests follow lengthy trial proceedings before New York Judge Arthur Engoron on already partly upheld claims from James that Trump and his business were poised for years to financially benefit from false statements on the value of various assets. The idea is, in part, that profound overstatements of how well the eventual president was actually doing in financial terms helped set up financial benefits like favorable terms on loans that he’d not actually earned. Accordingly, James is also seeking financial penalties totaling almost $370 million.
“Lifetime injunctions barring Trump, Weisselberg and McConney from participating in the real estate industry in New York State or from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity are necessary and appropriate,” James’ team’s filing said, in a portion highlighted by The Messenger. “Trump, Weisselberg and McConney worked together for years to inflate Trump’s net worth while concealing the fraud from counterparties.”
Trump’s business activities in New York also figured into new revelations from Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, who say that Trump business entities — including a pair of New York City properties — benefited from $7.8 million in foreign government spending while Trump was in office as president. In an interview, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), who’s on that panel, accused Trump of clearly violating the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution, which decisively restricts public officials from taking things of value from foreign governments. Goldman also pointed out how Trump was the one benefiting from this variety of financial flow at all, in contrast to the lack of conclusive evidence implicating anybody actually in office within the Biden family.
