- Letitia James (NY’s attorney general) sued Trump Organization on September 21st.
- The AG announced Thursday that Eric Trump and Donald Trump have finally accepted service of the lawsuit.
- Service took three weeks — and a judge’s order — with the AG accusing Trump of ‘gamesmanship.’
Donald Trump lost his first legal battle against Letitia James, New York’s attorney-general. Her $250 million fraud case against her: He was served with the 220-page lawsuit after three weeks and a court ruling.
Trump was finally served by Alina Habba his attorney “by sending in email a message with a secure cloud hyperlink to pdf attachments all the documents”, James stated in a court filing.
The lawsuit charges the Trump Organization with a decade-long pattern of fraudulently exaggerating its worth. It seeks a quarter of a billion dollars in penalties as well as to prohibit the Trumps’ from doing business in New York.
Representatives for Trump and Eric, his son, were unable to serve the lawsuit since it was filed three week ago, September 21st.
Clifford Robert, a lawyer for Eric Trump was not able to reply to emails sent by the attorney General that day. The email sought confirmation that they were authorized to receive service. Her office filed a complaint in court last week.
The lawyers for all the other defendants to the suit, including Ivanka Trump Jr., were quickly served.
The silent treatment from Donald and Eric Trump came despite Habba and Robert having submitted notices to the court in late September — called “notices of appearance” — declaring themselves to be attorneys of record for the case.
James’ office was prompted by an apparent runaround Trump’s side could be accused of “gamesmanship”.She sought a court order last week that would allow her to email Habba or Robert the papers and then be done.
Manhattan judge who is handling the case Quickly agreedThursday’s ruling ruled that emailing papers to the lawyers would suffice for service to Trumps. According to their Monday filing, James sent those emails that same day.
Insider has not received any comment from Robert or Habba regarding the delay in serving the lawsuit.
The judge, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron set October 31as the date of oral arguments.
Both sides will debate the assertion of the attorney general that Trump Organization is so corrupted with ongoing fraud, that it urgently needs an independent financial monitor to oversee its operations.
Engoron, the same judge who ruled in April, is another early dispute. Trump was found guilty of contempt of courtfor not having fully complied with the attorney General’s subpoenas over the two-year period leading up to her filing suit.
Habba requested that the lawsuit be transferred from Engoron’s courtroom so that it can be handled by Manhattan’s commercial division. This division is responsible for complex business disputes.
