Letitia James laid trap to keep Trump Org from fleeing the state: legal analyst

With Judge Arthur Engoron expected to hand down a ruling on Friday on the amount of damages Donald Trump and his Trump Organization will have to pay — up to a possible $370 million in ill-gotten profits for committing financial fraud — MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin explained in a new column why the former president is caught in a trap.

As Rubin noted, New York Attorney General Letitia James has been playing the long game anticipating the former president would try to pack up his operation and move it to Florida where he and his children, Don Jr., Eric and Ivanka all now reside.

With the support of Judge Engoron, James asked for a "monitor" to oversee the company and its assets that have kept Trump from moving money around to avoid paying whatever Engoron slams him with.

In her column she pointed out that under a preliminary injunction she obtained in November 2022, "retired federal Judge Barbara Jones was named the 'independent monitor' for the Trump Organization, the three Trumps — and any of their employees or representatives, or any others acting at their direction — are prohibited from taking certain actions without notifying the attorney general, court or independent monitor."

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The ruling from Engoron specifically states: " ...any planned or anticipated restructuring of the Trump Organization, its subsidiaries, and all other affiliates, or of any plans for disposing or refinancing of significant Trump Organization assets, or disposing significant liquidity” face review.

To clarify, Rubin wrote, "Without telling the judge, the AG or the court-appointed monitor, the Trump Org cannot just play three-card monte and move their buildings or cash around so that they wind up in new business entities outside New York. Instead, at best, they have to give Engoron, James and/or Jones a head start of anywhere from two weeks to a month, in which time Trump and his fellow defendants could be further enjoined."

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