Trump real estate fraud case opens

Donald Trump allegedly generated at least $100m by repeatedly lying about the value of his property empire, a New York court has heard. The former president and real estate tycoon arrived in court in New York yesterday to sit before the judge he had labelled “deranged”. Judge Engoron has already handed down a summary judgement, stating that Trump overvalued his assets by between $812m and $2.2bn. Trump lawyer Alina Habba referred to a tax assessment of Mar-a-Lago valuing it at $18m. “How is that possible?” Habba asked. “The Trump properties are Mona Lisa properties. I assure you that there is a person out there who would buy that spectacular property, for way over $1bn. That is not fraud, that’s real estate.” The trial is scheduled to last until late December. The Times (£)The FT (£)The Telegraph (£)The Guardian