Donald Trump bashed a New York justice as a “radical left lunatic” for approving the appointment of a special monitor to stop what the judge described as “further fraud” at the Trump Organization.
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump called Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron “SICK” and claimed that the state’s court system is being “ridiculed all over the World!” (There’s no evidence of that.) Last week, Trump claimed that Engoron was attempting a “communist takeover” of his company.
In a major victory for New York Attorney General Letitia James, Engoron agreed Thursday to the appointment of a special monitor to oversee the Trump Organization’s financial statements — and barred the company from transferring any non-cash assets without first notifying the court and James’ office.
James has battled for a monitor, arguing that Trump is likely already siphoning off assets in the wake of her September lawsuit seeking $250 million in damages from the former president, his company and his three eldest children for alleged fraud.
Engoron ruled that the appointment of an independent monitor was justified given the “persistent misrepresentations throughout every one” of Trump’s official statements on the financial condition of his businesses between 2011 and 2021.
A monitor will “ensure there is no further fraud or illegality that violates” state law, Engoron wrote.
James’ suit accuses the Trumps and the Trump Organization of “staggering” fraud involving a scheme of vastly overvaluing assets to hoodwink banks and obtain loans.
The day James filed the case, the Trump Organization created another company, called Trump Organization II, incorporated in Delaware, according to James’ office, which argued that it was a strategy to shield assets.
According to Engoron’s ruling, James’ evidence of fraudulent valuations by Trump and his businesses was “more than sufficient” to indicate that she is “likely to succeed” in her court action, which is seeking strict limits on the activities of Trump businesses and a ban on the Trumps from serving as officers of any New York corporation going forward.
Engoron issued his ruling a day after Trump filed his own lawsuit in Florida against James, accusing her of “trespassing” on his “right to privacy” and launching a “crusade” to seize his “empire.”
A number of Trump’s longtime legal advisers staged a failed “intervention” in a bid to block the former president’s “tirade” lawsuit from being filed, according to The New York Times.
Those legal advisers warned the Florida attorneys who filed the lawsuit that it was “frivolous” and doomed to fail, sources told the Times. The general counsel of the Trump Organization even warned that they could be charged with malpractice for filing the suit, the newspaper reported.