- NY Attorney General Letitia James sued Donald Trump, his family and business on September 21.
- As of Friday, Donald Trump and Eric Trump still had not formally acknowledged the filing of the lawsuit, court documents say.
- The AG is already accusing Trump of ‘gambling’ in the lawsuit, which alleges massive fraud.
It’s been nearly three weeks since New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a massive fraud lawsuit against Donald Trump and his family business, and now her office is accusing the former president of “gambling” — for allegedly avoiding official service of the claim.
As of Friday, nearly all of the 16 defendants named in the lawsuit had formally accepted the 220-page lawsuit, according to the AG’s latest court filing in the case.
But two defendants remained unserved, the filing shows — Donald Trump and his son Eric Trump, who has been more hands-on in running the Trump Organization since his father won the 2016 election.
The AG has been “diligent” in trying to send the lawsuit to all defendants, her office complained in another filing in late September, but “gambling” has blocked the way.
“The fact that official service is only now being completed is due to gamesmanship by the defendants and not a lack of diligent effort” by the AG’s office, complained a footnote in that late September filing.
“Ms. Habba never responded” to the AG’s emails requesting that she accept service on Trump’s behalf, the footnote added.
Habba, two lawyers for Eric Trump and the AG’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The AG’s lawsuit alleges that over the past decade, Trump’s multibillion-dollar real estate and golf resort empire has routinely inflated the value of its properties in order to secure hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and tax breaks.
The lawsuit seeks $250 million in fines and a ban on Trump from doing business in New York; James has stated that she intends to bring the case to trial before the end of 2023.
But three former assistant attorneys general in the New York office have told Insider that Trump’s side will do everything possible to delay the case — for years, if possible.
The Trump side successfully delayed the investigation leading up to the lawsuit for about two years, mostly by filing motions and appeals challenging the AG’s request for documents and depositions.
