Letitia James Wants Trump Fined for Making Bogus Arguments in NY Case – Rolling Stone

New York Attorney General Letitia James asked the state’s Supreme Court to financially sanction Donald Trump, his co-defendants, and their attorneys in a $250 million lawsuit for repeatedly making bogus arguments in court.

James is asking for $20,000 in sanctions against the defendants and attorneys in a civil suit alleging business fraud by the Trump Organization and the Trump family. James brought the suit against Trump, his children and their company last year for “grossly” exaggerating Trump’s net worth and deceiving lenders by providing inaccurate and misleading financial documents. She is now asking for sanctions because, as she wrote in a Tuesday filing, their lawyers continuously raise “frivolous and sanctionable” arguments that the court has already dismissed.

According to James, “sophisticated defense counsel should have known better” than to make those already-failed arguments, including claims that the suit is politically motivated, that James does not have standing to bring the suit, and that the public was not harmed by the Trumps’ actions. The former president has referred to the lawsuit as “a politically-motivated witch hunt” and repeatedly accused James of being “racist” against him.

“Despite the Court’s prior rulings and admonition, Defendants exhume their previously-rejected standing, capacity, disclaimer, and disgorgement arguments,” James wrote in the filing. She went on to state that the multiple attempts by the defendants and their attorneys to make bogus arguments amount to “frivolous conduct” that should result in financial sanctions from the court.

The Trump legal team has already been scolded by the court for repeating unsound arguments. In a January written order, Justice Arthur F. Engoron rejected arguments brought again by Trump attorneys. Engoron said the arguments were “frivolous” and added that they were “borderline frivolous even the first time defendants made them.”