A judge approved New York Attorney General Letitia James’s request for an independent watchdog to monitor the Trump Organization’s stewardship of financial statements while her civil lawsuit plays out in court.
After James petitioned the court last month for an independent monitor until a trial takes place, Judge Arthur Engoron of the New York County State Supreme Court found her office made a strong case for one and ordered former President Donald Trump’s company to foot the bill for a monitor that the court will appoint.
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“This court will appoint an independent monitor, to be paid by defendants, for the purpose of ensuring compliance with this order,” Engoron wrote in the ruling. “If the monitor reasonably determines that defendants have violated this order, the monitor shall immediately report that matter to [James], defendants, and this Court.”
In addition to the monitor, the order requires the Trump Organization to give James’s office and the court 14 days’ notice before transferring certain assets. Engoron set Nov. 10 as a date for both sides to present three candidates to be the monitor.
James had made the request last month amid her pending lawsuit, per Axios. Her office claimed the Trump Organization “appeared to be taking steps to restructure its business to evade the reaches of OAG’s lawsuit” and noted that the Trump Organization “registered a new entity with the New York Secretary of State” on the same day James filed her lawsuit.
Trump fired back in a different state Wednesday, filing a 41-page lawsuit in Florida’s 15th Judicial Circuit Court seeking to stop her from obtaining records on a trust used to manage some of his business assets. In the suit, he accused her of waging a “war of intimidation and harassment” against him.
“Time and time again, the courts have ruled that Donald Trump cannot evade the law for personal gain,” James said in a statement. “Today’s decision will ensure that Donald Trump and his companies cannot continue the extensive fraud that we uncovered and will require the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee compliance at the Trump Organization.”
Donald Trump and the Trump Organization cannot move assets to evade liability and an independent monitor will be installed to oversee financial compliance at the Trump Organization.
No matter how powerful you are, everyone has to play by the same set of rules.
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) November 3, 2022
Engoron has reportedly overseen prior legal tussles between James and Trump. The former president ripped the judge late last month, arguing he was the only person worse than James.
“His name is Arthur Engoron & he is a vicious, biased, and mean ‘rubber stamp’ for the Communist takeover of the great & prosperous American company that I have built over a long period of years,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
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James unveiled a sprawling $250 million lawsuit against Trump and three of his adult children back in September, accusing them of inflation asset valuations for tax and business benefit. The nearly 280-page suit lays out a series of financial fraud allegations against the Trump business empire. Trump has adamantly denied wrongdoing and decried her inquiry as a “witch hunt.”
On top of the civil claims, James claimed her office uncovered evidence of violations of multiple state laws and relayed the matter to the Southern District of New York and the IRS for possible criminal investigations.
