Update: Letitia James updated her post and corrected the amount Trump and others were ordered to pay New York. She wrote: “This is a massive victory for New York, our nation, and everyone who believes we all must play by the same rules. Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., Eric Trump, and his former executives must pay $463.9 million for their staggering financial fraud.”
Original Story
Judge Arthur Engoron ruled against Donald Trump, his family, and his organization today.
New York Judge Arthur Engoron has ruled that Trump defrauded banks by inflating his worth to acquire loans; he has ordered Trump to pay the State of New York $364 Million. Trump is also barred from loans even though banks love to loan to him, calling him a whale.
Don Jr. and Eric must pay 4 million dollars and are banned from doing business in New York for two years.
Mr. Weisselberg has to pay $1 million.
Donald Trump has been banned from doing business in New York for three years.
The AG used taxpayer resources to go after a political opponent in a civil trial. She couldn’t even indict him in a criminal trial because this is absurd. She’s continued to raise the amount she wants in damages after running her entire campaign on “getting Trump.”
The civil case in New York brought by partisan Attorney General Letitia James is based on a principle of law called disgorgement, which left Donald Trump vulnerable to the machinations of dishonest people such as Letitia James and Judge Engoron. James ran for election to get Trump.
In a disgorgement lawsuit, they don’t need victims. The State claims the Trump Organization’s allegedly fraudulent statements cost banks $168 Million in interest. Attorney General Letitia James’s financial expert testified to this.
James based her demand for $370 million on three factors: money Mr. Trump allegedly earned in interest rate savings on loans due to misstating his assets; “bonuses” paid to Trump Organization employees who participated in the scheme; and profit realized from two properties deals that Ms. James alleges were obtained fraudulently.
She also wanted him and his sons and allies limited in doing business in the state.
The judge found the former president, his adult sons, and his namesake company have already been found liable for fraudulently inflating the value of assets in statements to lenders. That was without any defense by the defendant.
The State claims the Trump Organization’s allegedly fraudulent statements cost banks $168 Million in interest. Attorney General Letitia James’s financial expert testified to this.
The banks negotiated the loan and the interest. They didn’t just accept whatever Donald Trump’s accountants said.
This isn’t a damages lawsuit. There are no victims. That is true. The State is suing Trump, not victims, for disgorgement as we said.
To bring this lawsuit, Letitia James greatly undervalued the properties Mr. Trump owns. To understand how absurd this is, listen to this expert developer:
Exactly pic.twitter.com/XNWQmzNwSn
— Curtis Flush (@CrewElon) February 16, 2024
THE GOOD NEWS
It’s hard to see how this survives an appeal.
The really good news for Donald Trump is his company made $4 billion. The US Securities and Exchange Commission allowed Donald Trump’s media and technology company to merge with a blank-check acquisition vehicle. The deal currently values the parent of his social media app, TruthSocial, at as much as $10 billion.
The valuation is about half that of Elon Musk’s X.
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