Sanctions sought against Trump, lawyers for ‘boilerplate’ responses, ‘demonstrably false’ denials

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Trials & Litigation Sanctions sought against Trump, lawyers for 'boilerplate' responses, 'demonstrably false' denials

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 1, 2023, 12:10 pm CST

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Former President Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, in November 2022. Photo by Andrew Harnik/The Associated Press.

Updated: The New York attorney general’s office is seeking sanctions against former President Trump and his lawyers for “deficient” verified answers to allegations in a lawsuit accusing the Trump Organization of fraud.

Senior enforcement counsel Kevin Wallace said in a Jan. 31 letter his office will seek sanctions because each verified answer by the defendants “largely parrots the others, utilizing the same boilerplate language.”

“A cursory review of the verified answers reveals that a number of the denials are demonstrably false,” the letter said.

The office will also ask Judge Arthur Engoron of New York to dismiss affirmative defenses and deem improperly denied factual allegations to be admitted, the letter to Engoron said.

“Defendants falsely deny facts they have admitted in other proceedings, they deny knowledge sufficient to respond to factual allegations that are plainly within their knowledge, and they propound affirmative defenses that have been repeatedly rejected by this court as frivolous and without merit,” the letter said.

Sanctions are sought against all suit defendants, which also include Trump’s three oldest children, the Trump Organization, corporate officials and related entities.

Reuters, the Washington Post, Politico and Axios are among the publications with coverage.

In court Wednesday, Engoron gave the defendants and their lawyers until mid-February to provide better answers, the Daily Beast reports.

The suit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James alleged that Trump obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate loans and favorable insurance coverage based on financial statements that inflated his net worth by billions of dollars. Engoron ordered the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee the organization in November 2022.

Trump commented on the suit while refusing to answer questions in an August deposition.

“This is a vindictive and self-serving fishing expedition, the likes of which this country has perhaps never seen before,” Trump said.

See also:

ABAJournal.com: “New York attorney general asks court to hold Trump in civil contempt, fine him $10K per day”

ABAJournal.com: “Weekly Briefs: Trump business misrepresented assets, New York AG says; judge apologizes for weed scolding”

ABAJournal.com: “Trump Organization found guilty of tax fraud; maximum penalty is no more than ‘a rounding error’”

ABAJournal.com: “Did CFO of Trump Organization act ‘in behalf of’ company? Fraud conviction appeal will focus on issue”

Updated Feb. 2 at 8:15 a.m. to include coverage from the Daily Beast.

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