Donald Trump could be fined $250m (£201.3m) and banned from owning real estate in New York for five years after a judge ruled that he and his associates inflated their assets by as much as $3.6bn (£2.9bn).
The former US president is expected to appear in court today after the pre-trial ruling by Judge Arthur Engoron last week, which came after a civil lawsuit was brought against him by New York’s attorney general, Letitia James.
Trump’s lawyers – who are seeking clarity over the pre-trial ruling – have said that statements about the value of his assets were never relied on by the banks, which had never complained about being misled.
Sky News has gone through the court documents to show the main assets Trump listed – and the most up-to-date claims figure he’s claimed they are worth.
Golf clubs and related real estate
Trump’s total valuation: $1.7bn
Image: Donald Trump at his Turnberry golf course in Scotland
This figure relates to 12 golf and social clubs owned or leased by Trump, including his prized Mar-a-Lago estate.
The clubs, 10 of which are in the US and two in Scotland, make up by far the largest percentage of Trump’s net worth.
The district attorney said he lumps their numbers together when listing his assets in order to “conceal” any significant changes in value to individual clubs.
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He valued the clubs at their highest in 2018, claiming they were worth nearly $2.4bn.
Mar-a-Lago has been at the forefront of this case too, as the court ruled Trump had overvalued the Palm Beach club by as much as 2,300%, and that its actual worth was closer to $75m.
Trump Tower
Trump’s valuation: $806.7m
Image: Trump Tower in New York
Trump owns the commercial space in the iconic 58-storey building.
It’s been the headquarters of the Trump Organization since it opened in 1983 and has been a mainstay for Trump himself and some of his family members.
Ms James said the Trump Organization used tactics such as inflating income figures and adding favourable numbers from its projections in order to reach such high valuations.
Triplex apartment in Trump Tower
Trump’s valuation: $131m
That’s his valuation of the three-storey penthouse as of 2021 – but in 2015 and 2016, he had it at $327m.
The prosecutor labelled that valuation as “absurd”, and the court ruled Trump had reached that figure by pretending the property was three times bigger than its actual size.
40 Wall Street
Trump’s valuation: $663.6m
The 72-storey building was completed in 1930 and bought by the Trump Organization 25 years later.
The company claimed the tower was around $796.4m in 2016 – a valuation Ms James said could have been inflated by up to $473.9m.
Trump Park Avenue
Trump’s valuation: $135.8m (2020)
Image: Trump Park Avenue
The building near Central Park houses over 120 luxury apartments.
Trump’s valuations, which ranged from $90.9m and $350m between 2011 and 2021, only related to the commercial space and unsold residential units that he owns.
Ms James said the values of the unsold residential units were “false and misleading” because they ignored legal restrictions that would decrease property values.
Trump gave the units a $50m valuation in 2012, but, due to rent-pricing regulations that Ms James said he failed to take into account, they were actually meant to be valued collectively at just $750,000.
Seven Springs
Trump’s valuation: Between $261m and $291m (2011-2014)
He purchased this estate, which consists of two large homes, undeveloped land, and a few other buildings, in 1995 for a total of $7.5m.
The estate spans 212 acres across the towns of Bedford, North Castle and New Castle in New York.
Ms James focused on Trump’s valuations between 2011 and 2014 because from 2015 onwards, he moved the estate into the category ‘other assets’ – which we’ll get to later.
As for the 2011-2014 valuations, the attorney general said they were in “sharp contrast” to a bank’s $30m valuation in 2006.
This was put down to the Trump Organization factoring in the future sales of mansions it planned to build. “All of these values were a fiction,” she concluded.
1290 Avenue of Americas and 555 California
Trump’s valuation: $645m
Trump has a 30% stake in 1290 Avenue of Americas – a two million square foot skyscraper located in midtown Manhattan – and 555 California, a 52-storey building in San Francisco that is home to many high-profile tenants.
The remaining 70% is owned by the Vornado Realty Trust, which is not run by Trump.
The attorney general said Trump calculated the value of his shares without considering “the nature” of the agreement, causing the figures to be “false and misleading”.
The ‘other assets’
‘Other assets’ is a category Trump has used in all of his declarations, in which he sometimes includes more than a dozen different properties and assets.
Assets in this category include, depending on the year: aircraft, a management company, loans to Trump’s family members, and various homes in Palm Beach, Florida, Beverly Hills, California and the island of St Martin.
Ms James said Trump used ‘other assets’ in a similar way to his ‘golf clubs and related real estate’ category – grouping many items together and presenting a total figure so that he didn’t need to disclose the value of each asset individually.
She said the Triplex and Seven Springs were added to this category intermittently in attempts to “cover-up” when they dropped in value.
Between Trump’s 2014 and 2015 statements, for example, the ‘other assets’ category was reported to have increased in value by $219.6m after the Seven Springs property was grouped into it.
The court document did not share the overall value given for ‘other assets’ on any year.
As President Trump claims he is “close” to signing a mining deal with Ukraine, and his secretary of state Marco Rubio talks about a lack of “gratitude” from President Zelenskyy for US military assistance, our US correspondents Mark Stone, Martha Kelner and James Matthews discuss if this is the real reason Trump’s administration appears to have turned its back on Ukraine.
And, why Canada is taking its feud with Donald Trump on to the ice.
Donald Trump has purged top military figures in the Pentagon, including firing America’s most senior commander.
He also pushed out five other admirals and generals in an unprecedented shake-up of US military leadership.
The Pentagon had been bracing for mass firings of civilian staff as well as a dramatic overhaul of its budget and a shift in military deployments.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Charles ‘CQ’ Brown – America’s highest-ranking general and only the second black general to serve as chairman – was fired with immediate effect.
The president will also replace the head of the US Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service, and the Air Force vice chief of staff, the Pentagon said.
He is also removing the judge advocates general for the Army, Navy and Air Force, critical positions that ensure enforcement of military justice.
The campaign to rid the military of leaders who support diversity and equity in the ranks has been condemned by Democrats.
There is nothing apolitical about Trump
By David Blevins, Sky News correspondent
The purge of America’s top military officials, carried out by President Trump and his Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, is unprecedented, writes Sky News correspondent David Blevins, in Washington.
Their dismissal late on Friday sent shockwaves through the defence establishment and raised concerns about the direction of military leadership.
General Charles Q Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was abruptly removed two years into his four-year term.
America’s most senior military officer comes into office two years into a presidential term, meaning they serve under two presidents.
The role is intended to be apolitical but there is no such thing as non-partisan politics in the Trump playbook.
Brown’s tenure had been marked by a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, putting him at odds with the administration.
Prior to his appointment as defence secretary, Hegseth questioned Brown’s promotion, hinting that it had been influenced by race.
In his book, The War on Warriors, Hegseth wrote: “The military standards, once the hallmark for competency, professionalism, and ‘mission first’ outcomes, have officially been subsumed by woke priorities.”
Supporters of the administration argue the changes are necessary to refocus military priorities in line with the president’s objectives.
But critics contend that such a sweeping overhaul of leadership undermines the apolitical nature of the military and unsettles the rank and file.
Rhode Island’s senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said: “Firing uniformed officers as a type of political loyalty test… erodes the trust and professionalism that our servicemembers require to achieve their missions.”
Representative Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat, said the firings were “un-American, unpatriotic, and dangerous for our troops and our national security.”
“This is the definition of politicising our military,” he said.
Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said: “Firing uniformed leaders as a type of political loyalty test, or for reasons relating to diversity and gender that have nothing to do with performance, erodes the trust and professionalism that our servicemembers require to achieve their missions.”
During the election, Mr Trump spoke of firing “woke” generals and those he saw as responsible for the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Defence secretary and former Fox News personality Pete Hegseth has questioned whether General Brown would have got the job if he were not black.
There is no indication his appointment was not based on merit.
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On Friday, Mr Trump said: “I want to thank General Charles ‘CQ’ Brown for his over 40 years of service to our country, including as our current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“He is a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader, and I wish a great future for him and his family.”
It’s unclear who Mr Trump will choose to replace the judge advocates. Mr Hegseth previously criticised military lawyers, saying most “spend more time prosecuting our troops than putting away bad guys”.
Dozens of supporters were outside court as the man accused of fatally shooting the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare made his first appearance.
Luigi Mangione has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of murder following the 4 December killing of Brian Thompson, 50, outside a midtown Manhattan hotel.
The 26-year-old is accused of ambushing and shooting the executive as he walked to an investor conference.
Image: Luigi Mangione supporters stand outside the Supreme Court. Pic: AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah
Dozens of people who showed up in court to support the suspect including former army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning who was jailed for stealing classified diplomatic cables.
Dozens more queued in the hallway.
More on Luigi Mangione
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Mangione is also facing federal charges that could carry the possibility of the death penalty.
The judge set a deadline of 9 April to submit pre-trial motions.
Image: Luigi Mangione is accused of fatally shooting Brian Thompson. Pic: Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP
In addition to the New York cases, Mr Mangione also faces charges of forgery, carrying firearms without a licence, and other counts in Pennsylvania, where authorities arrested him at a McDonald’s.
Police say he was in possession of a gun, bullets, multiple fake IDs and a handwritten document that expressed “ill will” towards corporate America.
He is being held in a Brooklyn jail alongside several other high-profile defendants, including music mogul and rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, and disgraced crypto entrepreneurSam Bankman-Fried.
The killing prompted some to voice their resentment at US health insurers, with Mangione attracting a cult following.
A poll taken in the wake of the shooting showed most Americans believe health insurance profits and coverage denials were partly to blame for the incident.