New York AG Asks Judge to Sanction Trump and His Lawyers For Repeating ‘Frivolous’ Arguments In Fraud Suit

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) on Tuesday asked a judge to sanction former President Donald Trump and the other defendants in her suit against him alleging years of fraudulent business practices.

CNBC reported on Tuesday that James “asked that all the defendants be fined $10,000 collectively, and that another fine of $10,000 be imposed on their lawyers collectively” for repeating failed legal arguments.

James’s case against Trump and some of his adult children alleges that they committed fraud by inflating the Trump Organization’s assets by billions of dollars since 2011. James’s lawsuit against Trump seeks $250 million in damages and to bar him and his adult children from serving as an officer or director of a business registered in New York. Ivanka Trump was dismissed from the fraud case in June.

James slammed Trump’s defense by noting they have made the same legal argument five times since October of last year in an apparent attempt to stall the proceedings.

CNBC’s Dan Mangan reported James’s request for sanctions from Judge Arthur Engoron was based on his right to “impose financial sanctions upon any party or attorney in a civil action or proceeding who engages in frivolous conduct.” Magan added:

The filing said that conduct is frivolous if “it is completely without merit in law,” or if it is done “primarily to delay or prolong the resolution of litigation.”

Engoron previously rejected Trump’s argument that James lacks standing to sue Trump as “borderline frivolous even the first time defendants made them.”

“Sophisticated defense counsel should have known better,” the judge wrote at the time.