Donald Trump Arrives in New York for Second Deposition in $250Mln Civil Lawsuit

NEW YORK (Sputnik) - Former US President Donald Trump has arrived at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York to attend a second deposition in a $250 million civil fraud lawsuit on Thursday, a Sputnik correspondent reports.

Trump regularly stays in his tower when he comes to New York from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. As usual, the police and security forces blocked the street adjacent to Trump Tower before his arrival, the correspondent reported. The former president headed straight to the building from his car, escorted by guards, without lingering at the entrance.

During the second deposition, Trump is expected to plead the Fifth — to refuse to answer any question to avoid potentially incriminating himself — as he did during the first deposition in August 2022, New York Post reported, citing sources from multiple agencies.

In September 2022, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against Trump, his children, Ivanka and Eric Trump, and senior executives at the Trump Organization for "acts of fraud and misrepresentation." James alleged that Trump and others falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to influence banks’ decisions to lend money to the Trump Organization on more favorable terms, among other benefits. In addition, the lawsuit also alleged that between 2011 and 2021, Trump and his organization "knowingly and intentionally" created more than 200 false and misleading valuations of assets on his annual statements of financial condition to defraud financial institutions.

Previously, Trump attended an hours-long deposition in August, weeks before James filed the lawsuit. Then, Trump and his company denied any wrongdoing, and the former president called James' probe politically motivated and "a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt of all time."

Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree in connection to his alleged involvement in a $130,000 hush money payment and subsequent cover-up involving a purported affair with adult film actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which prosecutors elevated from misdemeanors to felonies by arguing that the fraud was linked to violations of election and tax laws.

Trump also faces three additional investigations in connection with his purported role in the January 6 riot, his handling of classified documents at his Florida home, and alleged interference with the 2020 Georgia election results.