New York court sets tax evasion trial date for Trump and his 3 children

Washington:

Donald Trump and his three eldest children will face trial late next year in a civil lawsuit brought by the New York attorney general who charges them with fraud, a judge said on Tuesday.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron has set a trial date for Oct. 2, 2023 in the case that alleges Trump and his family members misjudged property values ​​to enrich themselves.

The lawsuit — and a slew of criminal, civil and congressional investigations Trump faces — will likely complicate the ex-president’s bid for a second term, which he announced last week.

The date, which Trump’s lawyers will likely try to delay, would be closer to the start of the primary season for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Leading New York prosecutor Letitia James sued Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump and the Trump Organization in September, alleging they lied to tax collectors, lenders and insurers for years .

She says they provided fraudulent statements of Trump’s net worth and false asset appraisals “to obtain and satisfy loans, obtain insurance benefits and pay less taxes.”

James, a Democrat, has demanded that Trump pay at least $250 million in penalties – money she says she made from the fraud – and that her family be banned from running businesses in the state.

His office does not have the authority to file criminal charges in the case.

Trump, 76, says the lawsuit is politically motivated. He tried several times to have it rejected.

– Tax returns –

He suffered another blow on Tuesday when the Supreme Court cleared the way for his tax returns to be turned over to a Democratic-majority House of Representatives committee.

Unlike presidents since the 1970s, Trump has refused to release the records while in office and has gone to court to block Congress’s request.

That legal fight seemed to come to an end when the justices ruled without comment that the returns should be turned over to the House Ways and Means Committee.

The committee requested tax returns from Trump and his related business entities for 2015 through 2020.

Submission of reports to the committee does not necessarily mean that they will be made public.

The move comes with just weeks left in the current Congress term, and Republican lawmakers will take control of the House in January after winning a slim majority in the Nov. 8 midterm elections.

Although the Supreme Court has been reshuffled by Trump, its justices have never ruled in his favor in this area, in particular authorizing in 2020 the transfer of his tax files and business documents to the Manhattan prosecutor’s office.

Manhattan prosecutors have accused the Trump Organization of concealing severance payouts it paid to top executives between 2005 and 2021.

Trump is also facing legal scrutiny for his efforts to overturn the November 2020 election results and for the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.

(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)