Donald Trump and his business were found liable Friday of inflating asset values in paperwork to lenders, but given that nobody lost money, this punishment smacks of political overkill. In a 92-page ruling, New York Judge Arthur Engoron ordered him to pay $355 million, while also banning him from being an officer for any New York corporation for three years.
The judge had previously found that Mr. Trump fudged numbers submitted on Statements of Financial Condition (SFCs), most egregiously by claiming that his 11,000-square-foot triplex in Trump Tower was actually 30,000 square feet. Friday’s ruling, putting a price tag on that conduct, includes pages of summarized testimony from business partners.
Donald Bender, an accountant at Mazars who helped draw up the documents, said he discovered later, after being interviewed by investigators, “that the Trump Organization had withheld records, such as appraisals, that Mazars had requested,” in the judge’s telling. “Bender made clear that Mazars would not have issued the SFCs if it had known.”
Mr. Haigh affirmed that Mr. Trump’s “personal guarantee” was “the reason for favorable pricing on the loan.” Deutsche loans included covenants requiring Mr. Trump “to maintain a minimum net worth of $2.5 billion, excluding any value related to his brand.”
Perhaps this explains some of the obsession by the mogul-turned-President with puffing up his valuations over the decades. It’s true that Mr. Trump was interacting with sophisticate…
Read more@WholesomeTurtleLibertarian4mos4MO
Woody Allen described this Trump trial best when he said in his movie “Bananas”: “This trial is a travesty. It's a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham.”
Estimates of property valuations (especially in Manhattan) can vary tremendously. Real estate professionals and banks can place different valuations on the same property. Was any bank defrauded? Was every loan repaid? Was the state of New York defrauded? A previous WSJ article stated that “lenders made a profit and never alleged any breach of contract.”
This trial is more lawfare against Trump. Woody Allen said it best: “This trial is a travesty.” The article is also correct: “This penalty is unreal.”
@R3gulationCoconutRepublican4mos4MO
Obviously this result will be reversed at some point along the appellate process, hopefully before the poor overworked SCOTUS is compelled to do so.
Just imagine what would happen to any other Citizen who was subjected to this egregious LAWFARE and who did not possess several hundreds of millions of dollars (personal, contributed and RNC) for attorney fees, costs, bonds and the like in order to see the entire matrix of attacks all of the way through all of the appellate processes to the obvious ultimate victories.
For such a Citizen, bending the knee to the will of the Democrats would be requisite for one's very survival.
In a real sense, Mr. Trump is the shield for every man (or woman), or even Everyman himself.
@WholesomeTurtleLibertarian4mos4MO
'They're not after me. They're after you. Im just in the way.'
@R3gulationCoconutRepublican4mos4MO
@Patriot-#1776Constitution4mos4MO
The sad irony is that the very people screaming about locking up the leader of the opposition political party are vowing vengeance for the alleged murder of a member of the Russian opposition party who was put in prison for similar reasons to these sham Trump, kangaroo court trials.
Every real estate developer in the world has committed this crime. The only reason this lawsuit exists is because Trump is a politician. But this judge wanted to impress his liberal friends, and , to him, that comes before restoring integrity to the justice system.
@R3dStateLillianConstitution4mos4MO
We've become a third-world country. They typically imprison political opponents. We use lawfare to basically do the same thing, using judges and juries from the political party in power. I don't care what you think of Trump; this is far, far worse than anything he has done.
@ISIDEWITH4mos4MO
@ISIDEWITH4mos4MO
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