In September 2022, the AG sued Trump, his three oldest children (Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric), former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, former controller Jeffrey McConney, and ten related companies.

In February 2024, Engoron concluded that the "defendants failed to accept responsibility or to impose internal controls to prevent future recurrences" of having "submitted blatantly false financial data" to "borrow more and at lower rates".

She asked the court to compel the organization to provide information it had been withholding, including testimony from Eric Trump who had resisted a subpoena and abruptly canceled an interview scheduled for the previous month.

[21] Additionally, the filing noted that the two Trumps and their father had moved to block their subpoenas on the premise that the AG was attempting to sidestep due process to gather evidence against them in the related criminal case.

[55] In a five-page statement issued the next day, Trump claimed that Mazars had cut ties with him because of "vicious intimidation tactics" by investigators and that his brand value made up for any alleged financial discrepancies.

[74] On April 8, 2022, James asked the court to compel real-estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, which conducted appraisals for several Trump Organization properties (before cutting ties in January 2021), to comply with a February 2022 subpoena as well as an earlier one that was partially fulfilled.

[88] On May 2, 2022, Habba requested that the appellate division of New York's First Judicial Department stay Engoron's contempt order, which the appeals judge rejected the next day, referring the matter to a full bench.

[102][104] Citing Graff's testimony as conflicting with Trump's claim in late April that it was his "customary practice to delegate document handling and retention responsibilities to ... executive assistants", the AG asked the judge to require the submission of additional evidence by June 13.

[136] Speaking with Fox News host Sean Hannity on the day the lawsuit was filed, Trump asserted that the disclaimers provided by Mazars on its financial statements for the organization absolve him of fraud because they admit the valuations "may be way off".

[142] The OAG accused the organization of continuing to engage in fraud after the suit was filed and possibly beginning to restructure its business,[143] and asked Engoron to order Trump to sufficiently disclose valuation methods to an independent monitor when dealing with lenders or insurers.

Most substantially, Ivanka's counsel, who had been ordered to provide all of her emails from 2014 to 2017, had shared far less for the later part of that timeframe (averaging 1,200 for early 2014 compared to under 50 a month for 2016), with no substantive explanation or a timeline for compliance (though it was acknowledged that the April 30 deadline would not be met).

The appellate court reasoned that because Ivanka was no longer part of the organization by the agreement's date and definition, the toll did not apply to her, barring claims of illegal actions from before February 6, 2016,[197] including many relevant transactions the OAG alleges she was "a key player" in.

[201] On August 30, 2023, the AG asked the judge to grant a summary judgment on the suit's claim that Trump and the organization had fraudulently lied about his wealth and valuations, between 2011 and 2021 increasing his net worth by 17–39% ($812 million–$2.2 billion).

[205] On September 14, citing state legislation dealing with administrative misconduct,[206] Trump's team asked New York appeals judge David Friedman for a legal intervention against Engoron, asserting that both he and the AG were defying appellate orders.

)[223][224][r] Additionally, on September 26, Engoron sanctioned five defense lawyers $7,500 each for "intentional and blatant disregard of controlling authority and law of the case" by repeating arguments that had already been rejected several times by the New York Supreme Court and the appellate division.

[257][256] Also on October 19, real-estate investment trust executive Jack Weisselberg (a son of Allen) testified that he partially relied on Trump's financial statements in securing a $160 million loan for the organization.

He was shown a 2012 email exchange with a representative of a golf course the organization was considering buying, which referred to an in-person meeting to review "a financial statement prepared by a CPA firm reflecting Donald Trump's net worth".

[235] Ivanka stated that she was unable to remember many details, even when presented with her emails; some of these portray her as a key player in (unsuccessfully) trying to secure $50 million from Deutsche Bank for the Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C., in 2016.

A court system threat-assessment worker stated that the clerk who was the subject of Trump's October 3 post has since been receiving over 50 harassing phone calls, emails, and social media messages a day.

[333] On January 26, Barbara Jones reported that in her 14 months of monitoring the organization, it had been cooperative and made some requested changes, but the documents it provided were frequently "lacking in completeness and timeliness" and contained inaccuracies.

[371] On February 28, appeals judge Anil Singh rejected the request for a lower bond amount, but stayed bans on Trump and other defendants taking out bank loans or serving as an officer of companies in New York.

[374] The OAG complained that defendants (having previously told the court that the secret disposal or movement of its assets could not be carried out) had recently made an unsuccessful attempt to change the address of several major entities—including the organization's ownership—to Florida.

[422] Writing for Business Insider, Laura Italiano speculated about actions the AG's then-impending lawsuit might call for, such as a preliminary injunction, a temporary restraining order, or revoking Trump's corporate charter.

[423] On September 22, The Wall Street Journal editorial board—having written earlier in the year that the investigation "looks like more evidence of the decline of America's rule of law"—stated that "Trump has made a business and political career of getting away with whatever he can, and it's easy to imagine he crossed a line.

[426] In early October 2022, a former Manhattan prosecutor called the financial statement disclaimers provided by Mazars "a hurdle" in the civil case, while a former AG lawyer argued that they protect Trump.

"[149] Ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, Fox News published an Associated Press article about James's re-election campaign, describing her in the headline as "Donald Trump's chief legal nemeses [sic]".

[429][x] On November 16, 2022, a New York appeals court ruled that Cohen could sue the organization to reimburse legal fees (in the range of millions of dollars) for Trump-related litigation including the investigations by the DA and AG.

"[438][z] The article cites: After Ivanka Trump requested a delay to prepare her defense, some media outlets speculated that she had decided to stop protecting family members allegedly involved in fraudulent activity.

[439][184] In response to James's implication that various state cases against Trump might have to be delayed due to his federal prosecution,[440] the Fulton County DA's office denied that this would impact its own investigation.

[447] In March 2024, Former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman argued that if Trump had the cash to pay the judgment but failed to meet the deadline, "James is going to be able to go in and basically put restraining orders on all of his bank accounts.