A judge is to appoint an independent monitor at Donald Trump’s company “to ensure there is no further fraud” pending the outcome of a civil lawsuit alleging that it long misled banks and insurers about assets.
Arthur Engoron, a New York judge, agreed with a request from Letitia James, the state attorney-general, for a watchdog to halt what she described as “staggering” fraud and vet the transfer of assets at the Trump Organisation.
Trump responded with fury. “A puppet judge of the New York Attorney General and other sworn enemies of President Trump and the Republican Party has just issued a ruling never before seen anywhere in America,” he said in a statement. “It is Communism come to our shores … We have to fight back against radical tyranny and save our Country!”
Judge Engoron is presiding over James’s case, which accuses the former US president, his company and his three eldest children of systematically overvaluing assets to smooth loans and insurance deals. She is seeking a fine of at least $250 million and a lifelong ban on Trump serving as a company officer or director in the state.
Engoron and James are elected Democrats. Trump, a Republican, has called the case a “political witch hunt”.