March 3 (UPI) — The legal team representing former President Donald Trump formally has requested a six-month delay in the civil case filed against him by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
James brought a civil suit against Trump in September, alleging the Trump organization had fraudulently inflated the value of certain assets.
The lawsuit alleges Trump and senior executives at the Trump Organization, along with children Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump, “falsely inflated” Trump’s net worth by billions of dollars in an effort to secure bank loans with more favorable terms.
James is seeking to permanently bar the former president from serving as an officer or director in New York corporations and businesses. She also seeks $250 million in fines.
Documents filed by Trump attorney Clifford S. Robert on Friday say the former president’s legal team needs more time to prepare an adequate defense.
“Defendants cannot possibly review the staggering volume of material, serve subpoenas, review subpoenaed materials, prepare for and conduct depositions — all within a three-and-a-half month period from the date on which plaintiff produced its investigative file — and then prepare and present expert reports one month later,” according to Robert’s filing.
“Forcing defendants to continue under the current schedule will prejudice their ability to put on a defense that cannot be cured, absent an extension of time to compete discovery and an increase in the number of depositions that they are allowed to take,” the text continues.
“Anything short of this runs afoul of fundamental fairness, is violative of established due process principals and scoffs at the well-entrenched adversarial system of justice that serves as the bedrock of the United States’ legal system,” the filing says.
In January, a New York judge denied a request from Trump’s legal team to have the case thrown out.