A Manhattan judge said Thursday he will appoint an independent overseer for former President Donald Trump’s real estate empire, limiting his company’s ability to freely make deals, sell assets and change its corporate structure. Judge Arthur Engoron ordered the outside guardian for the Trump Organization as he presides over a lawsuit in which New York Attorney General Letitia James claims Trump and the company routinely misled banks and others about the value of prized assets, including golf courses and hotels that bear his name. James’ office says the Trump Organization continues to engage in fraud and has taken steps to avoid potential penalties from the lawsuit, including incorporating a new entity in Delaware called the Trump Organization LLC — almost identical to the original company’s name — in September, just before the lawsuit was filed. Trump sued James in Florida on Wednesday, seeking to block her from having any oversight of the family trust that controls his company. Trump’s 35-page complaint repeated some allegations from the lawsuit he previously dismissed against James in New York federal court, including that his investigation into him is a “political witch hunt.” Engoron, who has handled Trump-related matters for more than two years, seemed open to appointing a monitor or granting at least some oversight of the Trump Organization pending James’ lawsuit — though he cautioned that reporters should not “read nothing”. in questions he asked the lawyers. Trump’s lawyer, Alina Haba, told reporters after Thursday’s arguments that she fully expects Engoron to appoint a monitor, pointing to his controversial history with Trump. Last week, the former president attacked the judge on social media, calling him “mean, biased and malicious.” Engoron, a Democrat, has repeatedly ruled against Trump while presiding over disputes over subpoenas issued in the James investigation. The judge held the Republican in contempt and fined him $110,000 after he was late in turning over documents and forced him to sit for a deposition — testimony in which Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination more than 400 times. “I didn’t even see the point in talking because we’re going to lose no matter what,” Hamba said. James, a Democrat, is seeking $250 million and a permanent ban on Trump, a Republican, from doing business in the state. In the meantime, he wants an independent monitor to review and sign off on some of the company’s key business decisions, including any asset sales or transfers and possible corporate restructuring. “Our goal in doing this is not to interfere with the day-to-day operations of the Trump Organization,” said James’ senior enforcement adviser, Kevin Wallace. such as how many rounds of golf or hotel rooms were booked in a given year. “The Trump Organization has a persistent record of noncompliance with existing court orders,” Wallace said. “It shouldn’t be up to the court or the attorney general to spend the next year looking over their shoulder, making sure the assets don’t get sold or the company doesn’t restructure.” Wallace said James’ office is seeking to stop the “fraudulent activities going on at the Trump Organization” and wants safeguards in place so the company can’t simply sell assets such as Trump Tower and an office building in Wall Street 40. which could eventually be used to pay a potential judgment. Trump Organization attorney Christopher Kise responded that the company has “no intention” of divesting those properties, which together he says are conservatively worth at least $250 million. “The Trump entities are not going anywhere,” he added. Kise argued that James’ lawsuit was too much ado about common, good-faith disputes in the real estate industry. If the banks that lent money to Trump felt that he or the company had acted improperly, they would have spoken up, Keyes said. “There’s no problem. There’s no case here,” Kise said. “It’s unbelievable that we’re going to have a receiver brought into these complicated transactions instead of the owner of this property.” Engoron questioned at least one aspect of Kise’s reasoning, asking him if there really was a “good faith dispute” when Trump claimed the Trump Tower penthouse was three times its actual size and $200 million more valuable. As for the new Trump entity that raised concerns from James’ office, Kise said the company — listed in a New York corporate filing as Trump Organization II — had nothing to do with avoiding potential penalties from James’ lawsuit. but rather “consolidation of payroll issues that have arisen in other contexts”. Kise did not elaborate. The Trump Organization’s payroll practices are among the issues raised in the company’s criminal fraud trial in Manhattan, which was halted Tuesday and expected to resume Monday after a witness tested positive for COVID-19.
