Judge denies Trump bid to delay New York fraud trial

A judge denied a request Wednesday from attorneys representing former President Donald Trump, his family and his business to delay a business fraud trial in New York scheduled for Oct. 2 in New York.

Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling came a day after the aforementioned attorneys’ request. New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) brought the charges against Trump, his family and his business last year, claiming that the former president inflated his net worth by as much as $2.2 billion for lower taxes and better insurance coverage.

“While this is just the tip of a much larger iceberg of deception Plaintiff is prepared to expose at trial — which would result in carving off billions more from Mr. Trump’s net worth — it is more than sufficient to permit this Court to rule as a matter of law that each [statement of financial conditions] from 2011 to 2021 was false or misleading,” James wrote.

A later appeals court ruling released Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, from the suit. The ruling also found some of the business fraud counts fall outside the statute of limitations under New York law. Trump’s attorneys accused James of ignoring the appeals court decision and asked for a possible delay until a judge considered both sides’ motions for summary judgment.

“A trial of this magnitude should not begin in chaos,” the Tuesday filing from Trump’s legal team read. “The Court and the Defendants are entitled to know the claims and issues to be tried sufficiently in advance to prepare adequately for trial.”