Former US President Donald Trump's business empire is threatened by the New York fraud trial

As he campaigns to retake the White House with four criminal cases pending, Donald Trump faces additional legal risk on Monday when a civil fraud trial against the former president and two of his sons begins in New York. This trial threatens the Republican front-runner's business empire.

Judge Arthur Engoron has already determined in the case on Monday that Trump and his sons, Eric and Don Jr., committed fraud by long-term manipulation of the real estate and financial asset values of the Trump Organisation.

Late on Sunday night, Trump declared that he would be there when the trial began on Monday morning.

"I'm going to Court tomorrow morning to fight for my name and reputation," the 77-year-old wrote on his Truth Social platform.

"This whole case is a sham!!!" he added.

In addition to this civil case, Trump also faces several major criminal proceedings in the months ahead.

He is scheduled to appear before a federal judge in Washington on March 4, on charges of trying to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election won by Joe Biden.

After that, Trump will be back in New York state court, this time on criminal hush money charges, and later in a Florida federal court, where he is accused of mishandling classified documents after leaving office.

Finally, he will also have to answer to state charges in Georgia, where prosecutors say Trump illegally tried to get the southern state's 2020 election results changed in his favor.

In the New York civil case, Engoron ruled that Trump, his two eldest sons and other Trump Organization executives lied to tax collectors, lenders and insurers for years in a scheme that exaggerated the value of their properties by $812 million to $2.2 billion between 2014 and 2021.

- 'Major blow' -

The judge consequently cancelled the business licences that let the Trump Organisation run a few of its properties in New York.

Issuing such fines would be "a major blow to Donald Trump's ability to do business in the State of New York going forward," Will Thomas, a University of Michigan business law professor, told AFP.

That kind of pressure could eventually cause Trump to lose control over many of his company's flagship properties, including his Manhattan real estate venture, the 5th Avenue Trump Tower. Trump built his reputation and fortune as a real estate mogul in the 1980s and had promised to bring his ruthless industry tactics to the Oval Office.

According to New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, Trump's own apartment in that building is among the spaces that were fraudulently overvalued -- it was listed as three times bigger than its true size.

Another Manhattan building, at 40 Wall Street, was overvalued between $200-$300 million in financial disclosures, James alleges.

Trump's luxury Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida -- the site of the classified documents drama -- and several other Trump Organization golf clubs also appear in James's complaint.

All told, she is seeking $250 million in penalties and the removal of Trump and his sons from management of the family empire.

- High-profile witnesses -

Trump has repeatedly dismissed the New York civil allegations, calling James, who is Black, "racist," and labeling Engoron "deranged."

On his Truth Social platform, Trump claimed there was no "wrongdoing" in his actions of "fully paying back sophisticated Wall Street Banks in full, with interest, with no defaults, and with no victims."

Numerous witnesses, including Trump and Allen Weisselberg, the former financial director of the Trump Organisation who served time in prison after admitting to tax fraud in a different case brought against the company, are expected to be called to testify during the trial.

It is also likely that Trump's children, Eric, Don Jr., and Ivanka, the eldest of whom was initially the subject of James's complaint but was not charged, will offer testimony of their own.

It is also anticipated that representatives from certain financial institutions connected to the former president—as well as Michael Cohen, Trump's former attorney and vocal critic—will make an appearance.