A judge has ruled that Donald Trump committed fraud for years while building the real estate empire that catapulted him to fame and the White House.
Judge Arthur Engoron, ruling Tuesday in a civil lawsuit brought by New York’s attorney general, found that the former president and his company deceived banks, insurers and others by massively overvaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth on paperwork used in making deals and securing financing.
The decision, days before the start of a non-jury trial in Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit, is the strongest repudiation yet of Trump’s carefully coiffed image as a wealthy and shrewd real estate mogul turned political powerhouse.
Beyond mere bragging about his riches, Trump, his company and key executives repeatedly lied about them on his annual financial statements, reaping rewards such as favorable loan terms and lower insurance premiums, Engoron found.
Those tactics crossed a line and violated the law, the judge said, rejecting Trump’s contention that a disclaimer on the financial statements absolved him of any wrongdoing.
Manhattan prosecutors had looked into bringing a criminal case over the same conduct but declined to do so, leaving James to sue Trump and seek penalties that could disrupt his and his family’s ability to do business in the state.
Engoron’s ruling, in a phase of the case known as summary judgment, resolves the key claim in James’ lawsuit, but six others remain.
Engoron is slated to hold a non-jury trial starting Oct. 2 before deciding on those claims and any punishments he may impose. James is seeking $250 million in penalties and a ban on Trump doing business in New York, his home state. The trial could last into December, Engoron has said.
Trump’s lawyers had asked the judge to throw out the case, which he denied. They contend that James wasn’t legally allowed to file the lawsuit because there isn’t any evidence that the public was harmed by Trump’s actions. They also argued that many of the allegations in the lawsuit were barred by the statute of limitations.
(AP)
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13 Responses
Surprise!! Trump engaged in lies and deceitful hyper-exaggeration in his business dealings with banks considering lending him money. Who would ever have imagined? Not that it will matter one iota to his chassidim.
So the banks and insurers didn’t do any due diligence? They just gave money and insurance without verifying? Sounds like this is going to a higher court to be thrown out.
Surprise!! EVERY SINGLE BUSINESS does the exact same thing. No bank was ever deceived by these statements, or lent a penny in reliance on them; they do their own evaluations. Intent to defraud was not proven — the judge decided it was unnecessary. So yeah, Trump did what we always knew he did, and that he has acknowledged since the beginning that he did.
The judge also ignored the fact that the mere fact that Trump had bought an asset automatically increased its value. That’s a plain and obvious fact about the market at the time; his name was the value added that he brought to the table, and on which he made his money. But the judge completely ignored it. That’s fraud on the judge’s part.
The banks have their own appraisers. They didn’t go by Trumps evaluations. Also, all the loans were paid back so there aren’t any damages. Just another attempt to hurt Trumps re-election, except it helps
Maybe it will not matter to his chassidim because it was no surprise- coming from a trump hating judge.
Maybe it will not matter because there was no victim so who cares. he didn’t defraud anybody when there ain’t no victim.
KatonHador would of found him guilty also
Not really, because assets are worth what someone could pay, so ‘deceived banks, insurers and others by massively overvaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth on paperwork used in making deals and securing financing.’ is invalid as the banks, insurers etc. did not loose, they just gained from interest.
A crook, swindler, adulterer, assaulter of women, breaker of oath of office, a maligner of military heroes alive and dead.
As many commentators here point out, it’s not fraud if you lie to a bank or other entity that does it’s own due diligence. For example, a few months ago a young ivy grad was charged with lying to JP Morgan Chase about $170 million, and all charges were dropped since they did their own due diligence.
Um, submitting a rosy appraisal to a bank for a loan, or to a potential buyer from a sellers is NOT “fraud.”
This is how real estate is done every single day. This is why NO banks were part of this case, only a Democrat Judge and Attorney General. Banks have their own appraisers and aren’t fools. If you say your $500k house is worth $1 million, they aren’t just going to believe you and hand over a loan.
To CONFISCATE Trump’s businesses is Soviet-style Communism, plain and simple. Inventing “crimes” to destroy his billionaire opponents is what Putin did. Thought we were better? Not in New York!
Mr. Milhouse is correct.
The judge is panicking because maybe Mr. Tump our former president will take over the White house soon.
The Martin Act (New York General Business Law article 23-A, sections 352–353) is a New York anti-fraud law, widely considered to be the most severe blue sky law in the country. Passed in 1921, it grants the Attorney General of New York expansive law enforcement powers to conduct investigations of securities fraud and bring civil or criminal actions against alleged violators of the Act. It was used infrequently until the early 2000s, when then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer began using it to bring civil cases against Wall Street firms. It has since become the basis for a number of high-profile cases, including a 2002 investigation of Merrill Lynch for alleged conflicts of interest, and the 2012 suit against Bank of New York Mellon Corp. for allegedly defrauding customers through foreign currency transactions
For once Jackk speaks the truth! But he probably doesn’t even listen to himself. Yes, this law, despite being on the books for 80 years, was never used in such a way, because everyone understood that it was wrong. Then along came the criminal Spitzer, who used it as a tool of extortion. Spitzer is a real rosho, a sadist and a blackmailer, and saw the potential to use this law to squeeze money out of Wall St firms for his own personal and political benefit, and his Democrat successors have been doing so ever since. And Jackk undoubtedly approves; his only regret is that he doesn’t get any of the proceeds into his own pocket — or does he?
Sholom Rubashkin was also prosecuted for a similar thing, making false statements to a bank that knew perfectly well what he was doing, and had no problem with it, because they knew their money was safe and he was servicing the loans to their complete satisfaction — until the prosecutor and the judge conspired to prevent him from servicing or repaying the loans. Even after he was forced into bankruptcy the assets were more than enough to repay the bank every penny, but the judge and prosecutor conspired to destroy the assets’ value so that the loans would go unpaid. THEY were the ones who defrauded the bank, and they are the ones who should have sat in prison.