Former President Donald J. Trump is expected to testify in a trial that threatens the business empire that is the foundation of his public persona and informed his run for the White House.
It stems from a lawsuit brought by New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, which accuses Mr. Trump and other defendants, including his companies and his sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, of fraudulently inflating the value of assets to obtain favorable loans and insurance deals. Monday will be the trial’s 19th day.
For the past four weeks, lawyers from the attorney general’s office have argued that Mr. Trump’s employees had arbitrarily assigned values to assets in order to arrive at the former president’s desired net worth.
Mr. Trump’s attorneys have responded that the assets had no objective value and that differing valuations are standard in real estate.
Before the trial, the judge, Arthur F. Engoron, ruled that Mr. Trump and the other defendants were liable for fraud, and that the annual financial statements on which they listed their assets were filled with examples of such misconduct.
As a consequence, Justice Engoron canceled the business licenses that have enabled Mr. Trump to operate his companies in New York, a blow to the former president’s empire.
An appeals court paused that part of the judge’s order, meaning that while Mr. Trump’s control of the companies may still be at risk, he does not immediately need to dissolve the legal entities he uses to manage his properties.
