Former President Donald Trump called for the judge overseeing his civil fraud case in New York to be “disbarred,” pointing to local real estate experts who dispute a key fact the judge relied upon in his finding that Trump inflated the value of his assets.
Judge Arthur Engoron found last week that Trump had committed fraud by inflating the value of his assets and net worth, particularly his Mar-a-Lago estate, deceiving banks and insurance companies.
During remarks outside the courtroom for his Monday trial, Trump cited a Monday New York Sun article where local experts claimed the county appraiser’s assessment of Mar-a-Lago’s value, which the judge relied on in his ruling, does not equate to market value.
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“It just came out, a few minutes ago, where Palm Beach County, people that do this, agree with us 100%,” Trump said outside the courtroom. “They say the judge is wrong. He valued Mar-a-lago at 18 million dollars, and it’s worth 1 billion, maybe 1 billion five.”
Florida International University school of real estate director Eli Beracha told the New York Sun that the judge’s use of county appraisal data in his decision was “not the right approach.” Palm Beach Board of Realtors president John Pickett III agreed, telling the Sun that the appraisal can be ” “outdated or skewed” and is “rarely a component factor” in how he determines value.
Becky Robinson, the public information officer at Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office, told the outlet the appraisal is for “the purposes of taxation.”
“I do not believe that our office would be the best to answer these questions,” Robinson said, per the Sun.
The article calls the judge’s apparent slip-up a “misunderstanding of basic real estate law.” Trump came to a different conclusion.
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“He didn’t misunderstand it,” Trump said. “This is a rigged court. He’s put there to do a job on Trump.”
He also said Engoron should be “disbarred,” calling his decision “election interference.”
“This is a judge that should be disbarred. This is a judge that should be out of office. This is a judge that some people say could be charged criminally for what he is doing,” he said. “He’s interfering in an election.”
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