When Donald Trump became president in 2017, he left the day-to-day management of his big real estate business to his oldest sons, Donald Jr. and Eric.
Now, things have taken a wild turn. The Trump family is in the middle of a super intense legal fight that could put the Trump Organization at risk.
New York’s Attorney General, Letitia James, a Democrat, has made some serious accusations against Donald Trump, his company, and key people, including Eric and Donald Trump Jr., according to PBS on November 1.
The heart of the case is about a plan to make it look like Donald Trump had way more money than he really did in financial papers given to banks, insurers, and other people. They did this to get loans and business deals.
The head of the Trump family, who used to be president and is thinking of running for the 2024 Republican nomination, is going to testify soon. His eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, will testify on November 8.
The state’s legal team is almost done with their side of the case, and then the defense will bring in their own witnesses.
Donald Jr. and Eric Trump, who are both high-up people at the Trump Organization, are big players in this lawsuit.
Eric runs the company’s business, and Donald Jr. is all about property development. He also looked after a trust that held the company’s stuff while his dad was president.
Before the trial began, Judge Arthur Engoron said that Donald Trump’s financial papers were fakes.
He went even further, telling a receiver appointed by the court to manage some of the Trump family’s stuff, including big places like Trump Tower.
But an appeals court said hold on a minute and stopped that from happening.
Both Donald Jr. and Eric Trump are very clear that they didn’t do anything wrong. They’re saying the same thing as their dad.
They’re sticking to their story even as the trial goes on, even on social media.
In the trial, the state’s lawyers have been looking closely at what Donald Jr. and Eric did at the Trump Organization.
They’re checking how the brothers figured out the value of their dad’s stuff and made his financial papers.
David McArdle, who’s an expert at Cushman & Wakefield, said that Eric Trump had a big say in deciding how much planned but never-built townhomes at a Trump-owned golf course were worth.
The brothers already talked a bit in sworn statements during the case.
When Donald Jr. talked, it was clear that he didn’t know much about financial rules called Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). He kinda laughed it off, saying it was like Accounting 101 at Wharton, which is where he went to school.
Eric Trump, in his statements, said that he didn’t have much to do with the Statement of Financial Condition. He was more focused on the actual work happening on the ground.
Donald Trump showed up at the start of the trial, but he’s not planning to come back to watch his sons testify. While he was there, he said that the whole thing was fake and a scam. He called it the biggest witch hunt ever.
These comments got him in trouble, and he had to pay some fines for breaking the rules about talking too much during the trial.
