Letitia James won a $454 million judgment against Trump, his penalty for a decade of fraud. She and Trump are now fighting over her claims that he withheld evidence from her fraud probe. New York law lets James seek additional fines if evidence that she subpoenaed was lost or destroyed.

Key Details

New York Attorney General Letitia James is not content to rest on her $454 million civil fraud trial victory, even as Trump's debt to the state keeps snowballing, growing by a punishing $5 million in interest since February.

Unfinished Business

James is asking hard questions about the $175 million bond that would safeguard at least some of what Trump owes New York while he appeals losing the trial. A hearing on the bond's financial soundness is set for Monday, April 22.

Key Takeaways

James is intent on holding Trump's feet to the fire, along with the feet of his lawyers, over something her office has complained about for four years: the withholding of evidence. The integrity of the fraud trial may be at stake, she argued in a letter Tuesday night.

Evidence Withheld

The AG is looking at three internal Trump Organization email chains from 2016 that were never turned over to her office during her five years of pursuing Trump for tricking banks into thinking he's worth more than he is. Manhattan prosecutors used them as evidence in sending former Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg to jail for perjury on Monday. But the emails were not among the 900,000 documents Trump Org turned over to James' fraud probe.

Legal Battle

When James first found out about the missing triplex emails in October, she immediately asked the trial judge to order a forensic review of "electronic data held by the Trump Organization for the very brief period [of] August to September of 2016," when the emails were written.

Brief Context

Trump's alleged withholding of evidence has been an issue since at least 2020, when James first complained publicly that Trump Organization was defying her subpoenas.