A New York judge refused Friday to halt Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial, denying the former president’s request to delay it as he fights a preliminary ruling that could strip him of control over assets like the Trump Tower.

The appeal judge agreed that control over the companies will remain as it is for the time being.

Friday’s decision came five days after the closely watched trial, which drew Trump to the courthouse to observe and fulminate for days this week.

Trump’s lawyers had asked the state appeals court to suspend the trial of New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James is suing, blocking Judge Arthur Engoron from implementing his ruling last week that would revoke the 2024 Republican presidential candidate’s business licenses and put a court-appointed trustee in charge of his businesses.

This is a huge mistake. It is irreparable,” Trump lawyer Christopher Kise told an appeals judge on Friday afternoon. Kise argued that the ruling will make defendants in other cases fear that their businesses and properties will be seized without recourse.

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We are not looking for a delay. We strive for a fair trial,” Kise said.

Trump’s lawyers said the ruling could harm not only the ex-president and other defendants, but also as many as 1,000 employees.

The appeals court last week rejected the defense’s last-minute attempt to delay the trial just days before it started. On Thursday, Trump’s lawyers dropped a lawsuit they filed against Engoron as part of that challenge.

James’ office has discussed with the defense about delaying the enforcement of Engoron’s ruling at trial, provided it continues, Assistant Attorney General Judy Vale told the appeals judge.

We could have solved some of this, and we were still happy to do so, Vale said.

She called the defense’s arguments for a delay completely meritless and noted that setting up the trial has been a Herculean effort.

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Before the hearing, James said Trump and the other defendants can keep trying to delay and delay, but the evidence is clear and our case is strong.

Engoron ruled last week that Trump committed years of fraud in building the real estate empire that brought him fame and the White House.

The judge ruled on the main claim in James’ lawsuit, ruling that Trump routinely defrauded banks, insurers and others by overstating the value of assets on his financial statements, which were used in closing deals and securing loans.

Trump has denied wrongdoing, arguing that some of his assets are worth far more than what the declarations say.

Before the appeal, former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney testified

the triad

On Friday, the court ruled that the values ​​he assigned to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida as much as $739 million in 2018 were based on the false assumption that it could be sold as a private residence. Such use is prohibited by Trump’s 2002 agreement with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

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“Were you aware that Mr. Trump had been deprived of his right to use the property for any purpose other than a social club?” asked State’s Attorney Andrew Amer.

“I didn’t know,” said McConney, who is also a suspect in the case.

Barring a postponement, the trial will resume Tuesday with Trump’s longtime financial chief Allen Weisselberg on the witness stand. Weisselberg, a defendant, oversaw Trump’s dealmaking, was involved in obtaining loans and oversaw McConney’s work on the financial statements. He left prison in April after serving about 100 days for evading taxes on $1.7 million in benefits.

As the trial unfolded this week, Engoron issued an order Thursday setting out procedures for enforcing his ruling. He gave both parties until October. He gave Trump and other defendants seven days to provide a court-appointed monitor, retired federal judge Barbara Jones, with a list of all entities covered by the ruling.

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He also ordered the defendants to give Jones prior notice of any application for new business licenses in any jurisdiction and of any attempt to establish new entities to own or acquire the assets of any company authorized under the ruling is annulled.

Trump’s lawyers argued in court filings that Engoron had no rational or legal authority to impose what they described as capital punishment on corporations.

At a pre-trial hearing on September 26, Trump attorney Christopher Kise urged Engoron to clarify whether his ruling meant Trump would simply have to close a number of business entities or whether he would be forced to relinquish some of his most prized possessions.

Engoron then said he was not prepared to make a ruling now.”

Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.