Judge considers outside monitor for Donald Trump's company

NEW YORK (AP) — A Manhattan judge said he'll decide Thursday on whether to appoint an independent monitor to oversee former President Donald Trump’s real estate empire — a move that would restrict his company's ability to freely make deals, sell assets and change its corporate structure.

Judge Arthur Engoron is weighing an outside watchdog for the Trump Organization as he presides over a lawsuit in which New York Attorney General Letitia James alleges Trump and the company routinely misled banks and others about the value of prized assets, including golf courses and hotels bearing his name.

James' office says the Trump Organization is continuing to engage in fraud and has taken steps to dodge potential penalties from the lawsuit, such as incorporating a new entity in Delaware named Trump Organization LLC — almost identical to the original company’s name — in September, just before the lawsuit was filed.

Trump sued James in Florida on Wednesday, seeking to block her from having any oversight over the family trust that controls his company. Trump's 35-page complaint rehashed some claims from his previously dismissed lawsuit against James in federal court in New York, including that her investigation of him is a “political witch hunt.”

Engoron, who's been handling Trump-related matters for more than two years, seemed open to appointing a monitor or granting at least some oversight of the Trump Organization while James' lawsuit is pending — though he cautioned that reporters shouldn’t “read anything" into questions he asked the lawyers.

Trump lawyer Alina Habba told reporters after Thursday's arguments that she fully expects Engoron to appoint a monitor, pointing to his contentious history with Trump. Last week, the former president lashed out at the judge on social...