From real estate fraud to sexual abuse: the six court cases awaiting Donald Trump

His presidency ends on January 19, 2021. The next day, Donald Trump will once again be an ordinary citizen of the United States. And with the termination of office in the office will also come the loss of immunity before the justice he enjoyed.

For prosecutors investigating him, that means they can move their case forward without fear that he will use his power to hinder their work.

Currently there six root causes this can complicate the life of the current US president. The most engaged is an investigation underway in New York against his real estate company, the Trump Organization.

In turn, he will face legal action for charges sexual abuse and bank fraud even a complaint filed by a family member who accuses Trump and his brothers of stripping her of her inheritance.

Here, a review of the details of the six causes.

Payments to silence women

At the center of this accusation are at least two women who claimed to have had an affair with the US president and received money before the 2016 election not to reveal this fact publicly.

The two women, porn actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, revealed what happened in 2018, sparking an investigation that ended in a conviction for Michael Cohen, the former lawyer for Trump who arranged the payments.

The specific indictment underscored the fact that campaign money was used to fund these payments. Cohen, who was sentenced to three years in prison for the crime, admitted to making the payments after Trump asked him to do so.

At the time, prosecutors did not take action against the president because it was very difficult to verify that he actually gave this order to Cohen. However, there is a second investigation on this topic currently advancing in New York which this could complicate Donald Trump.

In this case, the Manhattan prosecution seeks to clarify whether the Trump Organization, the president’s real estate company, falsified their balance sheets in order to hide part of the payments from these two women.

Possible banking and tax fraud

In August 2019, a Manhattan prosecutor asked the Trump Organization to turn over his financial records, including the most wanted document of all: the tax returns of Donald Trump himself over the past eight years.

While the president’s company has so far managed to avoid this, it lacks a court system to turn to. In October, a federal appeals court ruled against Trump, for whom he only has to resort to the State Supreme Court.

Cyrus Vance, the Manhattan district attorney who made the request in 2019, said he was doing so based on “the significant amount of existing public documents that point to possible and widespread criminal activity by the Trump Organization.”

According to specialists, this case is the one who engages the president the most. However, it will not be possible to know if he committed a crime until the judge obtains these records.

Possible real estate fraud

Another New York attorney’s office has been investigating since March 2019 whether the Trump company engaged in real estate fraud. The basis for this accusation dates back to the interrogation of Michael Cohen, the former lawyer for the magnate who was sentenced to three years in prison.

According to Cohen’s testimony to the United States Congress, the company allegedly “inflated” the price of their properties when applying for loans, and “stung” them during their tax return and therefore pay less.

Letitia James, the New York attorney general, is looking to move the case forward, but needs more information. The President said at the time that he was too busy with his duties to deal with these matters, but they are now expected to call him to question him.

Possible abuse of power for financial gain

Another complaint against Donald Trump is directly related to his work as president. There is three civil suits filed against him who accuse him of having abused the power of his office for financial gain.

Under the US Constitution, presidents must seek permission from Congress before receiving benefits from foreign officials or officers. In this sense, a complaint indicates that a diplomatic delegation from another country was facilitated to stay in a hotel belonging to Trump in Washington DC, without going through Congress.

For specialists, this cause is the least likely to advance, given that the penalties are low and are usually dropped once the civil servant leaves office.

Sexual abuse allegations

In recent years, dozens of allegations of sexual abuse have surfaced against the President of the United States, some dating back decades.

Donald Trump turned them down, calling them “fake news” and political persecution.

However, the complaints that have reached the courts do not refer to the abuse itself, but were filed after Trump responded to his accusers in public.

E Jean Carroll, columnist for Elle magazine who claimed Trump raped her in a dressing room at a clothing store in New York City, denounced him for defamation, after the president said it was impossible for him to rape her since she “was not the kind of woman who attracted him”.

Carroll asks for financial compensation and that Trump retracts publicly of his words.

A niece and a scam complaint

Mary Trump, the daughter of President Fred Trump’s late brother, rose to prominence after posting a family biography in which she called her uncle a “narcissist” who put the lives of all Americans at risk.

The book, called Too much is never enough, was the gateway to a complaint that Mary Trump published in September against the whole family, which she accuses of having cheated the inheritance which belonged to him by his father, died in 1981.

According to the complaint, at the time of Fred Trump’s death, the president and his brothers promised to look after the best interests of their children, but they never did such a thing. Instead of protecting his property, they would have devoted themselves to taking funds from him and “lying to him about the real value of his property”.

The complaint concerns a economic compensation of 500 thousand dollars.

Clarín press room with information from BBC News