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Trump Fraud Judge Under Investigation for Alleged Unsolicited Advice Before $454 Million Judgment: Report
Judge Arthur Engoron is reportedly under investigation after a real estate lawyer claimed to have given him unsolicited advice before his $454 million civil fraud ruling against Donald Trump.
May 9, 2024, published at 3:00 PM ET
Right Arthur Engoron An investigation is reportedly underway following allegations that he received unsolicited advice from a controversial real estate lawyer before placing an order Donald Trump pay a $454 million judgment, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The New York City judge presided over the former president’s civil fraud case after ruling last September that Trump could be held liable for committing fraud. Kingdom Advocate General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against the ex-president in 2022 for exaggerating financial statements that got him bank loans and business deals.
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The judge denied allegations that he had been influenced by Bailey through a court spokesman.
After a non-jury trial, a Manhattan Supreme Court judge ordered Trump to pay $355 million plus interest in March. In his ruling, he wrote that “the fraudsters found here jump off the map and shock the conscience.” Judge Engoron also reversed a preliminary ruling from September in which he had said some of the former president’s companies would be dissolved.
New York real estate attorney Adam Leitman Baileywho was not involved in the civil fraud case and had once been suspended from practicing law, said NBC New York during an interview in February, he spoke to Judge Engoron about the case three weeks before the ruling.
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New York Attorney General Letitia James filed the civil fraud case against Trump in 2022.
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Bailey claimed that he approached the judge at the courthouse and “explained” to him that a fraud law relevant to the case should not be used to defraud large corporations, especially when the victims of such a violation of the law are unclear. He is said to have argued that the state’s economy could suffer from such a decision. Judge Engoron had previously rejected a similar argument from Trump’s lawyers.
Bailey said he “wanted [Engoron] to know what I think and why… I really want him to be right.” He said he knew the judge “hundreds of times” from the lawsuits before him.
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Trump was ordered to pay the multi-million dollar judgment for overstating his financial statements to secure loans and business deals.
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“He had a lot of questions, you know, about certain things. We went through it,” the lawyer added.
New York’s judicial oversight body launched an investigation into the alleged exchange, sources familiar with the situation told NBC New York on Wednesday. The judge denied being influenced by Bailey through a court spokesperson.
“There was no ex parte discussion on this matter between Judge Engoron and Mr. Bailey or any other person,” said the communications director for the New York Office of Court Administration. Al Bakeraccording to a written statement.
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In September, Engoron indicated that a number of Trump’s companies would be dissolved, but he withdrew this statement in March.
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“The decision Judge Engoron issued on February 16 was his own, deeply considered and completely uninfluenced by this individual,” Baker added. The term “ex parte” refers to discussions with a judge about a case that take place without all parties present.
Under New York’s laws governing judicial conduct, “a judge shall not initiate, authorize, or consider any ex parte communications, or consider any other communications to the judge, without the presence of the parties or their attorneys.”
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However, an exception exists when it comes to a judge receiving “the advice of a disinterested expert,” if all parties are notified with the opportunity to respond.
Bailey’s law license was suspended by a New York appeals court in 2019 for misconduct in two cases. Court records obtained by NBC showed that the attorney had used his cell phone to take photos of witnesses during a hearing in one case, and that in another case he told a tenant to “just kill themselves.”
It could take more than a year for the Judicial Conduct Commission to complete its confidential investigation.
