Judge says New York AG's $250M lawsuit against Trump will proceed without delay

A judge in New York on Wednesday said there would be no delay to the start of the civil trial in New York Attorney General Letitia James' $250 million lawsuit against former President Donald Trump and his namesake real estate company.

Judge Arthur Engoron said that arguments Trump and others made to delay the case were not convincing.

"Defendants' arguments are completely without merit," Engoron wrote in his ruling.

The attorney general's office alleges that Trump, his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and Trump Organization executives inflated his net worth by, in some years, billions of dollars so they could obtain better terms from lenders and insurers.

The former president called his real estate portfolio "the Mona Lisa of properties" during an April deposition in the suit, according to a transcript of the deposition that was made public last week.

The trial is expected to begin Oct. 2.

Trump has denied all wrongdoing.