Donald Trump requests delay on enforcement of $355M judgment

Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Attorneys representing former President Donald Trump and his adult sons in a civil fraud case asked the judge on Tuesday to delay enforcing their penalty of hundreds of millions of dollars, arguing the state's attorney general is trying to rush the process.

The lawyers made the request in a letter addressed to Judge Arthur Engoron who last week fined the former president $355 million plus interest and was handed a three-year ban from doing business in New York in the civil fraud case brought against him by the state.

His sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. were also ordered to pay $4 million each and were banned from New York's business world for two years, while Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Wesselberg was fined $1 million.

Engoron had ruled against them in September, finding that Trump, his co-defendants and his organization had for years committed fraud in the state by inflating the value of properties to secure more favorable conditions for loans.

They have 30 days from the entry of the judgment to enter a bond and appeal, but in the letter to Engoron on Wednesday, Trump's attorneys argue that New York Attorney General Letitia James was not following normal procedures in an attempt to hastily secure her victory.

"The attorney general has not filed any motion on notice, nor moved to settle the proposed judgment; her unseemly rush to memorialize a 'judgment' violates all accepted practice in New York state court," Trump's lawyers said.

His legal team continued that if Engoron decides to enter James' proposed judgment, then they request a stay of 30 days on enforcement.

"Given that the court-appointed monitor continues to be in place, there is no prejudice to the attorney general in briefly staying enforcement to allow for an orderly post-judgment process, particularly given the magnitude of judgment," they wrote.

Trump said he plans to appeal the decision.