Donald Trump is facing a major problem when it comes to his golf courses.
Monitor Barbara Jones, in a report submitted to the judge overseeing the massive financial fraud trial to which Trump is the accused, found that Trump overinflated the value of his golf courses to a financial company despite being under court scrutiny.
Jones, an independent monitor, submitted her findings to Judge Arthur Engoron. She found that Trump put “zero depreciation on equipment at his golf courses, thereby giving his properties an inflated value,” according to Newsweek.
Trump’s lawyer, Chris Kise, called the findings “shameful.”
Engoron already awarded a partial judgment against Trump, finding he and his adult sons committed fraud while building their real estate empire through the Trump Organization.
The findings didn’t deter Trump’s lawyers, who tried to discredit the efforts of the independent monitor.
“This statement is false,” Kise said, according to Newsweek. “The Trump entities never informed the Monitor that these trial balances were improperly prepared. Rather, on November 21, 2023, the Trump entities provided the Monitor a complete explanation of the monthly unaudited trial balances and reiterated the complete irrelevance of these “observations.”
Only time will tell how Judge Engoron rules against Trump. He could liquidate Trump’s assets and bar him from doing business in New York.
Trump currently leads former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley by double digits in the Republican primary for the party’s presidential nomination.
[Newsweek]
