New York judge finds indictment-plagued Donald Trump liable for financial deception

• Attorney General New York sued Donald Trump in Sep 2022.
• She had said Donald Trump inflated his net worth by $2.23bn.
• Judge says liability for false valuations of properties established.

In yet another legal blow to Donald Trump, a New York court found the former US President liable for fraud Tuesday in a civil lawsuit by Attorney General Letitia James for overvaluing his assets and showing his inflated wealth in papers, according to US media reports.

The decision was issued by Justice Arthur Engoron of the New York state court in Manhattan.

James sued Donald Trump in September last year, maintaining that the former commander-in-chief and the Trump Organisation deceived for a decade about the values of his assets and net worth to secure better terms on bank loans and insurance.

She has said the 77-year-old inflated his net worth by as much as $2.23 billion, and by one measure as much as $3.6 billion, on annual financial statements given to banks and insurers.

The attorney general has said assets whose values were inflated included Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, his penthouse apartment in Manhattan's Trump Tower, and various office buildings and golf courses.

Engoron said James had established liability for false valuations of several properties, including Mar-a-Lago and the penthouse, and chided Trump for offering defences in a deposition that were "wholly without basis in law or fact."

"He claims that if the values of the property have gone up in the years since the [financial statements] were submitted, then the numbers were not inflated at that time," Engoron wrote.

"He also seems to imply that the numbers cannot be inflated because he could find a 'buyer from Saudi Arabia' to pay any price he suggests."

A trial is scheduled for October 2 and could last well into December.