New York State Attorney General Letitia James sued Donald Trump, asserting that he overvalued his assets in order to get favorable terms. The judge ruled against him before the trial, in a major setback for Trump. He will appeal.
A New York State Supreme Court judge issued a ruling on Tuesday that, if it stands, would have major consequences for Donald J. Trump.
The ruling came as part of the New York attorney general’s civil case against Mr. Trump. The attorney general, Letitia James, has accused the former president of fraudulently overstating the value of his assets on annual financial statements by as much as $2.2 billion a year in order to receive favorable terms on loans and benefits.
In the ruling, the judge, Arthur F. Engoron, agreed that Mr. Trump committed fraud when he sent those statements to banks and insurance firms. A trial in the case could start as soon as Monday; if Mr. Trump does not successfully have the ruling reversed before then, the proceeding will largely focus on the size of the penalty against him. Ms. James is seeking a fine of $250 million.
The financial statements are deceptive, Justice Engoron wrote, and he punctuated his order with harsh criticisms of the legal strategies deployed by Mr. Trump’s lawyers, whom he fined $7,500 each for using arguments that he had already rejected.
Mr. Trump, a Republican, has denied all wrongdoing and accused Ms. James, a Democrat, of political persecution. He noted Tuesday in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, that Justice Engoron was also a Democrat…
Mr. Trump’s lawyers were preparing to challenge Ms. James’s accusation that he had fraudulently inflated his net worth by billions of dollars, but Justice Engoron has short-circuited that aspect of the trial. In effect, Justice Engoron ruled that no trial was necessary to determine that Mr. Trump’s financial statements were fraudulent.
In his ruling, Justice Engoron wrote that the statements that Mr. Trump had submitted to banks and insurance companies “clearly contain fraudulent valuations that defendants used in business…”
Ms. James had sought to bar Mr. Trump from doing business in New York, in part by canceling certificates that allow his properties to operate there. Justice Engoron granted that punishment, which could have enormous repercussions for the Trump Organization.
For example, Mr. Trump could lose control of several properties, including Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan and a flagship commercial building at 40 Wall Street. His grip over his Westchester County golf club is also threatened. At one point in his order, Justice Engoron referred to the limited liability companies that he had shut down as “the canceled LLCs.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Once the appeals run out, Trump’s lawyers will continue to try every trick in the book and some that are not legal to run out the clock.
Trump will appeal until Armageddon.
Will there ever be any actual consequences for Teflon Donnie?
Nevertheless, blessings upon Justice Engoron! His rage was and is justified thousands and thousands of times over.
Finally, another in our justice system with courage and integrity, like Jack Smith.
Correction: “Finally, another in our LEGAL system with courage and integrity, like Jack Smith.”
“Justice” is bought in our legal system.
Trump has been inflating and deflating property values for years. He is finally being held accountable. It is no accident that the extremists in the GOP want to impede or even eliminate the IRS.
If there is anyone out there who would be interested in lending me $695,000 so I can buy a new Island Packet sailboat, I can put up as collateral a pair of my old shorts, which I have valued at 1.5 million. They will easily bring this once I am inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, which will happen as soon as I am discovered and have some hit singles, which should be any day now. –Bob “Lee Shores and Latitudes” Shepherd
These are really study black cargo shorts cut just above the knee. Made fashionable now by John Fetterman. Well worth the 1.5 million. You, too, could be stylin’!
Yes, you read that right. You will be able to hold these 1.5-million-dollar shorts as collateral and even be able to wear them! And if it should happen that Enlightened Master Bob Productions is unable to repay you, you get to keep them, because possession is 9/10ths of the law!
NB: The valuation of these shorts is subjective and does not absolve the lender from his or her fiduciary responsibility to conduct independent valuations. Offer void where prohibited by sanity.
“…accused the former president of fraudulently overstating the value of his assets on annual financial statements by as much as $2.2 billion a year in order to receive favorable terms on loans and benefits.”
What is the explanation for why these high-end lenders accepted these values year after year? Are the asset values legally irrelevant for the lenders in this kind of transactions–just a formality– and the lenders confident they’d get their payments? Is valuing such assets so complex that lenders could only accept what trump submitted? Did lenders knowingly engage in the fraud? It would, for example, seem simple to look up the assessed value of trump tower before loaning a large amount of money, but then I operate in a much less complicated financial world.
Did lenders knowingly engage in the fraud?
Yes. They threw good money after bad rather than expose themselves as having been conned by Trump initially. Bad loans piled on bad loans. And then it all would have collapsed, Bernie Madoff style, if the Russians hadn’t bailed him out and made him Putin’s dog, which turned out to be enormously useful to Tsar Vladimir.
“What is the explanation for why these high-end lenders accepted these values year after year?”
Mark, some people are saying…..
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/the-son-of-former-supreme-court-justice-anthony-kennedy-helped-trump-secure-loans-at-deutsche-bank/
Trump had hugely overspent to build casinos in Atlantic City and was teetering on the brink of almost certain bankruptcy. So, he took a trip to Moscow, where he was feted by people close to Putin. And then, at a time when no American bank would lend to him, Deutsche Bank, which held enormous deposits from oligarchs and siloviki in Putin’s inner circle, ponied up a billion dollars for Trump, and this saved his breathtakingly ill-managed empire. Move along. Nothing to see here. That’s what banks do all the time, right? Lend a billion dollars to the bankrupt guy.
Mark,
There are laws in New York State that require borrowers to give fair market value for their assets.
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10231745379364654&set=a.1200477179262
These beyond corrupt Soros paid Ag’s are a disgrace, new york is a cesspool with oput of control violence with their terrible sanctuary city. Nobody but the Bob trump deranged lunatics think she has any shot to do anything to Trump. What will happen in time is she will be sued by TRump will be removed and never again in office. These false attacks are grotesque. Makes sense Diane’s views being a lesbian, even clin ton was against gay marriage lol.
A$$hole.
I not only find this to be an indictment of Trump and his family, but of the real estate business and banking in general. What we are seeing is the fraudulent games played by all sides in regard to property and wealth. Our government does a pathetic job enforcing regulations toward these industries while plutocrats walk away with ill gotten spoils. Yes, Trump is truly deplorable, but he has a lot of company.
There are very few regulations to enforce! Big banks (JP Morgan Chase/Dimon #1) donate big cash to the Democratic party (mostly) and the D party rewards them by not pushing for regulation. They didn’t get slapped hard enough after the 2008 fiasco.
2008 led to the grass roots Occupy Wall Street movement and a Tea Party exploited by oligarchs that played a huge role in the ascendance of Trump. Both movements started with similar complaints about Wall Street but the conservatives weaponized the Tea Party to defang government oversight.