The New York judge overseeing the civil fraud case against Donald Trump is losing patience with the former president’s lawyers which he accused of being slow on the uptake when it comes to the court's ability to fine.
Judge Arthur Engoron duked it out Tuesday morning with Trump’s legal team when it again tried to dispute expert testimony arguing the alleged billionaire can't be fined for fraudulently inflating the value of the Trump Organization in financial documents, reported ABC News.
"For reasons this court has explained ad nauseam, that view is simply incorrect," Engoron said. “The defendants are whistling past the graveyard here."
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The civil trial decides not if Trump committed fraud — Engoron ruled before it began that Trump had — but if and how Trump should be punished.
Attorney General Letitia James would like to see the Trump Organization fined $250 million and barred from conducting business in New York state, and her team brought in an expert Tuesday to explain the legality of such a fine.
Trump attorney Chris Kise tried to counter the expert’s claim — arguing prosecutors could not prove lender banks would have acted differently if they knew Trump’s statements were phony — but was cut off by a frustrated Engoron.
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"Disgorgement is a clearly available remedy,” he said. "Several witnesses have testified that they would have acted differently had they known the statements of financial condition were fraudulent.”
Trump himself has tested the ability of the court to fine him by repeatedly violating a gag order barring him from threatening court staff.
