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(NEWSMAX) New York Attorney General Letitia James, who sued Donald Trump and his company for fraud last year, will call on the former president and three of his adult children to testify at his civil trial, CNBC reported.
James sued Trump, the Trump Organization, senior management and involved entities for “engaging in years of financial fraud to obtain a host of economic benefits.”
The case is set to begin in New York next week.
There are 28 people on James’ witness list, including Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump.
Michael Cohen, former lawyer to Trump, and Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump organization, are also set to be called to testify.
New York Judge Arthur Engoron on Tuesday ruled that Donald Trump and his family business fraudulently inflated the value of his properties and other assets, in a major defeat for the former president that could severely hamper his ability to do business in the state.
The scathing decision will make it easier for James to establish damages at the scheduled Oct. 2 trial.
Engoron ordered that some of Trump’s business licenses be rescinded as punishment, making it difficult or impossible for them to do business in New York, and said he would continue to have an independent monitor oversee Trump Organization operations.
If not successfully appealed, the order would strip Trump of his authority to make strategic and financial decisions over some of his key properties in the state.
Trump, in a series of statements, railed against the decision, calling it “un-American” and part of an ongoing plot to damage his campaign to return to the White House.
“My Civil rights have been violated, and some Appellate Court, whether federal or state, must reverse this horrible, un-American decision,” he wrote on his Truth Social site. He insisted his company had “done a magnificent job for New York State” and “done business perfectly,” calling it “A very sad Day for the New York State System of Justice!”
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.