Donald Trump, who wants to be re-elected president of the United States, is accused by a New York justice on Wednesday of overestimating his fortune by “billions of dollars” every year from 2011 to 2021 in a civil lawsuit for fraud in 2022, informs AFP.

Court photo of TrumpPhoto: Fulton County Sheriff’s Office / Zuma Press / Profimedia

New York State Attorney General Letitia James has filed hundreds of pages of exculpatory documents in the New York State Supreme Court in support of a civil complaint she filed in September 2022 seeking $250 million in damages from Trump. , his children and their group the Trump Organization for tax and financial fraud.

Letitia James, a Democrat-elected magistrate, accuses the Republican billionaire and his children of “deliberately” manipulating – up and down – the value of the group’s assets – golf clubs, luxury hotels and other properties – to obtain loans. banks or reduce their taxes.

The civil trial is scheduled to take place in New York on October 2 after a preliminary hearing in the state Supreme Court on September 22.

In court documents released by Letitia James’ office, prosecutors say Trump overstated his financial status every year between 2011 and 2021, including when he was in the White House from 2017 to 2021, “by 17% to 39%.” or between $812 million and $2.2 billion” each year.

“Since at least 2011, the defendants and others who worked for them in the Trump Organization falsely overstated the value of their assets on Donald J. Trump’s annual financial statements by billions of dollars,” New York prosecutors wrote.

“Given this evidence, the court does not need a trial to find that the defendants have materially overvalued their assets,” the James departments said in a court filing.

The Trump Organization had already been convicted in New York last January – albeit on criminal charges – of the maximum fine of $1.6 million for financial and tax fraud.

This fall’s civil trial promises, if it happens, to be more spectacular than all the 2024 trials awaiting Donald Trump, who hopes to return to the White House on January 20, 2025.

In the case of James’ complaint, Trump has often denounced the “ridiculous” case being presided over by a “racist” African-American judge.