By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York state Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday urged a court to appoint an independent monitor to oversee Donald Trump’s family company before a civil fraud case against the former U.S. president, three of his adult children and the family’s real estate firm goes to trial.
James also asked a state court in Manhattan to bar the Trump Organization from offloading its assets while the case plays out and to prevent it from issuing financial statements that do not explain their methodology, court papers showed. James asked to speed up the case and sought a trial date for October 2023.
The attorney general said it was necessary to install the monitor before the trial to make sure the company does not sell assets and to oversee its submission of financial information to third parties.
James in September sued Trump, three of his adult children – Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump – and the company, accusing it of over-valuing its assets and his net worth through a decade of lies to banks and insurers.
Trump, a Republican, and his company deny wrongdoing and call the case a politically motivated “witch hunt.” James is a Democrat.
Through the lawsuit, James is seeking to remove the Trumps from power at their company, prohibit Trump and the three adult children named in the case from serving as corporate officers or directors in New York, and impose a monitor at the company.
The Trump Organization manages hotels, golf courses and other real estate around the world, and had been under investigation by James for more than three years.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has separately charged the Trump Organization with criminal tax fraud, and is preparing for an Oct. 24 trial.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)
