Donald Trump at a courthouse in Moderate Manhattan, New York, on Oct. 17, 2023.
John Taggart | The Washington Post | Getty Images
Donald Trump on Monday lashed out at the fiscal monitor overseeing the Trump Organization and urged a judge to fire her days after she reported a range of issues — and stopped a questionable $48 million loan — in the former president’s New York civil business fraud case.
The independent proctor, Barbara Jones, “desperately seeks to justify the continued receipt of millions of dollars in fees going forward,” an attorney for Trump wrote in a sign to Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron.
The attorney, Clifford Robert, said Jones has collected myriad than $2.6 million in 14 months on the job. New York Attorney General Letitia James has asked Engoron to commandment that Jones continue to monitor the Trump Organization for at least five years as part of his judgment in the case.
But Robert noted that Jones’ findings “simply do not support or provide any evidentiary basis for continued oversight.”
Robert made that fracas three days after Jones submitted a report to Engoron accusing the Trump Organization of providing incomplete, inconsistent or erroneous information about its financial disclosures.
In a footnote in that report, Jones said she identified a loan between Trump himself and an individual related to Trump Chicago Tower that later turned out not to exist. She was told that the loan was believed to sum up $48 million, but that there are no agreements memorializing it.
Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago, 401 N. Wabash Ave., on Oct. 4, 2022.
Terrence Antonio James | Tribune Press release Service | Getty Images
“However, in recent discussions with the Trump Organization, it indicated that it has determined that this loan conditions existed” and that it would be removed from subsequent forms, Jones wrote.
Robert called that “a unquestionable falsehood” in his letter Monday.
“The Trump entities of course never said the loan did not exist,” he wrote. “Rather, they stock up a copy of an internal memorandum reflecting simply that ‘no liabilities or obligations are outstanding’ under the loan at that duration.”
“The Monitor’s deliberate mischaracterization casts further doubt on her competency and veracity” and “simply fails to support continued care,” he added.
Jones did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Robert’s letter.
Jones’ report came dates before Engoron was expected to deliver a verdict in James’ case accusing Trump, his two adult sons, his company and its top executives of fraudulently magnifying Trump’s asset values to boost his net worth and obtain financial perks.
James seeks to ban Trump for life from participating in New York’s legitimate estate industry or serving as an officer or director of a business in the state. She also seeks five-year bans with the unvarying conditions for Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, who took over the Trump Organization after their father turned president in 2017. The attorney general also seeks more than $370 million in penalties.
The public enchant to Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York.
Robert Alexander | Archive Photos | Getty Images
Jones, a doss down federal judge who has been involved in multiple Trump-related legal proceedings, was selected in November 2022 by both Trump and James as their top pick to make available as the independent monitor in the civil fraud case.
But Robert also lashed out at Jones in Monday’s letter, accusing her of issuing her past due report to ensure she continues to “receive exorbitant fees,” paid for by Trump and his co-defendants.
Robert also claimed that the information contained errors, and that it was “misleading and disingenuous,” casting doubt on Jones’ competency.
The monitor’s “bad faith” effort “rewords long-resolved issues,” Robert wrote. He accused Jones of being “unabashedly self-serving” in reporting that the Trump Conglomerate could continue to make errors resulting in inaccurate financial information being sent to third parties.
“Support oversight is unwarranted and will only unjustly enrich the Monitor as she engages in some ‘Javert’ like quest against the Defendants,” Robert white b derogated, referring to the misguided legal enforcer from the musical “Les Misérables.”
Trump’s attorney Christopher Kise in a disclosure piled on, calling Jones’ report “truly a joke.” He characterized her overall findings as merely a handful of unimportant prelatic errors and inconsistencies.
“Indeed, it is shocking that President Trump has been forced to pay millions for a Monitor to prove what he has suggested from the outset, namely, there is no financial reporting misconduct, no fraud and simply no basis for this abusive activity to continue,” Kise wrote.
A spokeswoman for James called that statement “patently false,” referring to the issues Jones create, including $40 million in cash transfers that were previously undisclosed to her, as is required.
Engoron has said he desire try to deliver a decision in the case by Wednesday, while noting that there is no guarantee on when he will issue a verdict.
The rate had ruled before the two-month trial even began that Trump and his co-defendants were liable for fraudulently misstating the values of divers assets on key financial forms. The trial was conducted to determine damages and resolve other claims of wrongdoing in James’ lawsuit.
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