Below is my column in The Hill on the $355 million verdict against Trump and his corporation in New York. The damages in my view are excessive and absurd after the court acknowledged that no one lost a dime in these exchanges. Indeed, the “victims” wanted to do more business with Trump and made handsome profits. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has rushed to assure businesses that there is “nothing to worry about” after the corporate public execution of Trump and his company. The assumption seems to be that you have nothing to fear from confiscatory actions unless you are Trump in New York. That is precisely why the New York Court of Appeals should act to redeem the integrity of the legal system by setting aside or drastically reducing this award.
Here is the column:
In laying the foundation for his sweeping decision against former President Donald Trump, Judge Arthur Engoron observed that “this is a venial sin, not a mortal sin.” Yet, at $355 million, one would think that Engoron had found Trump to be the source of Original Sin.
The judgment against Trump (and his family and associates) was met with a level of unrestrained celebration by many in New York that bordered on the indecent. Attorney General Letitia James declared not only that Trump would be barred from doing business in New York for three years, but that the damages would come to roughly $460 million once interest was included.
That makes the damages against Trump greater than the gross national product of some countries, including Micronesia. Yet the court admitted that not a single dollar was lost by the banks from these dealings. Indeed, witnesses testified that they wanted to do more business with Trump, who was described as a “whale” client with high yield business opportunities.
Undervaluing and overvaluing property is a longstanding practice in New York real estate. The forms submitted by the Trump organization cautioned the banks to do their own estimates and the loans were paid in full and on time. Yet, the New York law used by James is a curiosity because it does not actually require a victim. Indeed, everyone can make ample profits and still allow for an investigation into “repeated fraudulent or illegal acts.”
Having campaigned on bagging Trump on any basis, James turned the law into a virtual license to hunt him down along with his family and his associates.
Engoron proved the perfect judge for the case. The opinion itself seems almost cathartic for the jurist who struggled with Trump inside and outside of court. In the judgment, Engoron fulfilled Oscar Wilde’s rule that the only way to be rid of temptation is to yield to it. He ordered everything short of throwing Trump into a wood chipper.
The size of the damages is grotesque and should shock the conscience of any judge on appeal. Even if the Democrat-appointed judges on the New York Court of Appeals were to ignore the obvious inequity and unfairness, the United States Supreme Court could intervene.
State courts tend to get a significant amount of deference in the interpretation of their own laws. After all, if New York wants to turn Wall Street into a remake of “The Hunger Games,” it has only itself to blame as other businesses flee the state.
The impact on New York business is likely to be dire. New York is already viewed as a hostile business environment, with the top end of its tax base literally heading south as taxes and crime rises. This draconian award is only going to deepen concerns over the arbitrary application of the law by figures like James, who previously sought to disband the National Rifle Association. (She has shown less interest in cracking down on liberal organizations like Black Lives Matter or the National Action Network of Al Sharpton despite their own major financial scandals.)
As James gleefully uses this law to break up a major New York corporation, it is hard to imagine many businesses rushing to the Big Apple. This follows Democratic politicians such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) campaigning against Amazon seeking to open new facilities in the city. After this week, drawing new businesses to the city is going to be about as easy as selling country estates during the French Revolution.
The one hope for New York businesses may be the U.S. Supreme Court. Despite the deference afforded to the states and their courts, the court has occasionally intervened to block excessive damage awards.
For example, in 1996, the justices limited state-awards of punitive damages under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In that case, BMW was found to have repainted luxury cars damaged in transit without telling buyers.
An Alabama jury awarded $4,000 in compensatory damages for the loss of value in having a factory paint job, but then added $4 million in punitive damages. Even when the Alabama Supreme Court reduced that to $2 million, the U.S. Supreme Court still found it excessive. Even liberals on the Court such as John Paul Stevens and Stephen Breyer agreed that such “grossly excessive” awards raise a “basic unfairness of depriving citizens of life, liberty, or property, through the application of arbitrary coercion.”
The court may find almost half a billion dollars in damages without a single lost dollar from a victim to be a tad excessive.
That prospect will not dampen the thrill-kill environment in New York this week. In electing openly partisan prosecutors such as James and District Attorney Alvin Bragg, voters have shown a preference for political prosecutions and investigations.
In “Bonfire of the Vanities,” Tom Wolfe wrote about Sherman McCoy, a successful businessman who had achieved the status of one of the “masters of the universe” in New York. In the prosecution of McCoy for a hit-and-run, Wolfe described a city and legal system devouring itself in the politics of class and race. The book details a businessman’s fall from a great height — a fall that delighted New Yorkers.
It is doubtful Trump will end up as the same solitary figure wearing worn-out clothes before the Bronx County Criminal Court clutching a binder of legal papers. But you do not have to feel sorry or even sympathetic for Trump to see this award as obscene. The appeal will test the New York legal system to see if other judges can do what Judge Engoron found so difficult: set aside their feelings about Trump.
New York is one of our oldest and most distinguished bars. It has long resisted those who sought to use the law to pursue political opponents and unpopular figures. It will now be tested to see if those values transcend even Trump.
Jonathan Turley is the J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at the George Washington University Law School.
Free speech for me but not for thee
Threesomes for me but not for thee
These seem to be the rallying cry of trump and his sycophants on this sites and all over the place.
Moms for America turns out they hate it that some school age kid might consider themselves gay or lesbian, but it is ok for the leader of the pack to enjoy lesbian sex and for the husband to demand sex from a woman not his wife that he rapes her.
Have you kept track of all the death threats those that oppose trump get?
Wake up, spell the rot int he trump party. Democracy demands we accept election results when officials and courts deem them final.
JT, quit hiding behind trumps girdle and call out the nonsense of him and his sycophants. He will lose the election in November. JT, you will not be an AG or any part of a trump administration because he will lose.
Biden has lost Black voters.
Biden has lost Hispanic voters.
Biden has lost Asian voters.
Biden is on uncertain ground with Jews.
And now, Democratic Socialist Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) encouraged Democrats to “vote uncommitted” in the Feb. 27 presidential primary due to the Biden administration’s handling of the conflict in the Gaza strip.
How is Biden going to win if those people do not vote at all, or even vote for Trump?
And what makes you think the good professor would even want a job as a AG or part of the Trump admin at all? The good professor is doing just fine.
Great comment Upstate! Once Biden turns on Israel the Jewish vote will start to really slip.
Bob, The Exit Door is always there. If the Content of this Website is such a perturbing problem for you, then by all means You are free to leave.
You make my point explicitly. You don’t like what I said so I can leave. Is that how democracy works? Did I say the content of this web site is a perturbing problem for me? I don’t think so. Just trying to point out how biased JT is. How lacking in facts the trump brigade has been since first declaring the election a fraud. When was that? Oh yea, before he was even elected the first time in 2016.
How’s that Biden impeachment going? Haven’t heard much since the star witness has been arrested for lying to the FBI.
Biden did gain one endorsement, Putin.
You are proving what a stooge you are if you believe what Putin says. You have played into his hands like play dough. You must be so proud to join the ranks of Putin stooges. You can join your buddy Tucker Carlson as useful idiots to trump. Tucker is such a stooge he things Russia is a far better place to live than the States. Stop now before you make a bigger fool out of yourself.
Sorry, I meant a stooge to Putin, not trump. He has been a Putin Stooge for a very long time.
Russia, such a great country. The only opposition to Putin is killed in a prison. And Tucker thinks that is just fine. A far better country than the U.S. Sheesh, tucker, trump, and trump supporters, all Putin stooges.
JT, quit hiding behind trumps girdle and call out the nonsense of him and his sycophants.
I asked several days back to find one instance of our host defending Trump, and not the rule of law and/or the Constitution
you failed miserably and I pointed out those failures.
So pony up the facts to support your personal smears, little man.
Bob – Nate Silver is predicting that Biden will lose the election. “Nate Silver Sounds the Alarm on Biden Campaign: ‘He’s Losing Now and There’s No Plan’” [February 19, 2024] https://www.mediaite.com/news/nate-silver-sounds-the-alarm-on-biden-campaign-hes-losing-now-and-theres-no-plan/
The “case” is a complete sham from start to finish and cab-driver “judge” Engoron violated the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments (among other laws).
Letitia James claimed that Trump et al. [and others] violated New York Executive Law § [Section] 63(12) by submitting “false and inflated” financial statements to lending institutions. The financial statements were subject to GAAP [Generally Accepted Accounting Principles], specifically ASC [Accounting Standards Codification] 274, Personal Financial Statements.
In short, ASC 274 required the assets shown in Trump’s financial statements to be stated at the amounts they “could be sold for.” That means that for Letitia James to prevail she was legally required to prove that the assets “could not be sold” for the amounts on Trump’s financial statements.
But James completely failed to do that! She merely claimed in her complaint that there were purported alternative valuations for Trump’s assets at lower amounts than stated. That’s not the same thing as submitting the required proof that the assets “could not be sold” for the amount he stated. And allegations in a complaint aren’t evidence in any event. Nonetheless, Engoron egregiously treated the false allegations as though they were evidence.
In every other case ever tried in a court of law, the plaintiff has to submit proof of the allegations. James never did that! She presented no expert in valuations to opine that Trump’s properties “could not be sold” for the amounts Trump stated. So, Engoron’s ruling was based on zero evidence. The mere alternative “valuations” she referred to in her complaint are unsupported by any facts and any corroborative evidence and are, therefore, legally insufficient.
In contrast, Trump presented several experts including a professor of accounting with extensive experience in valuations named Eli Bartov. Bartov submitted evidence and testified that none of the assets shown in Trump’s financial statements were materially overstated. He opined that “they could be sold” for the amounts stated, 100% in accordance with GAAP. When faced with that evidence, Engoron merely dismissed Bartov’s testimony as “not credible” by mischaracterizing it and then claiming it was not credible because Bartov was paid well to testify (which applies to most testifying witnesses) and because Bartov didn’t agree with any of Letitia James’ false assertions (ignoring that there’s no requirement for an expert witness to agree with the opposing party’s position).
And if you’re wondering why James never presented her own valuation expert witness to take the position that she wanted, that is, that the assets “could not be sold” for the amounts Trump stated, wonder no more. There are only two reasons why. One, James couldn’t find an expert who would be willing to lie under oath for her. Or, Two, she did find an expert willing to lie, but when they went through a practice cross-examination with the lying expert, the expert came across too obviously like a liar and a fraud. There are no other possibilities. And the fact that Engoron made his ruling without any supporting evidence (via an expert or otherwise) means that he violated all due process of law.
There was no GAAP in the evidence. 🙂 Seriously, I have read the things you said months ago somewhere, and I was not surprised that this judge ruled the way he did. I figured Bragg and James would do some judge-shopping to get the best effect. Therefore, the actual facts and law did not ever matter. If they did, if standards mattered, this crap would have never been brought in the first place. But things have become so bad, that I have no confidence that even the higher NY courts will do the right thing either.
@Floyd,
Its not a question of GAAP.
Market value estimations have nothing to do with GAAP.
Note that the valuation may be based on some elements of GAAP like income statements, expenses, etc … but itself is an estimate for what the property could reasonably be sold for in the market at the time.
Going from memory, the law used by James is based on Trump making material misrepresentations for his own gain.
The issue is that he didn’t make a material misrepresentation. The DB Banker testimony shows that the only material information provided by Trump were the addresses of the property and his ownership. The estimates were not material.
The interesting thing is that Engoron made a summary judgement only on a portion of ‘facts’ which were in dispute. For a summary judgement those facts would have to be undisputed. This would be an automatic appeal and Trump would win here.
In terms of valuations, Engoron made Trump’s case when he low balled Mar a Lago.
His use of the assessor’s numbers was wrong, and even the assessor’s office warned him not to do that.
I know, but I could not resist the pun. But yes, what person, knowledgeable in anything, would ever go with an assessor’s value, over an actual appraiser and an actual appraisal. My Goodness, but I hope the Bar in NY still has some trace of integrity.
Floyd is, of course, doing a play on “GAAP” versus “gap”. But to your point about market value estimations, GAAP does give certain guidance on valuations. GAAP has one such set of valuation guidance for corporate financial statements, private or publicly traded, which uses the “fair value” standard of measurement, and is quite detailed. And GAAP has separate valuation guidance for personal financial statements under ASC 274, as I described above.
Regarding the Mar a Lago valuation, where Engoron “bought into” Letitia James’ absurd $18 million valuation, turning a blind eye to market-based valuataions, cab-driver Engoron did some interesting things this time around. Given the wide publicity given to his absurdly low-ball valuation of Mar a Lago in his earlier phony summary judgment, the cab-drive “judge” in his final opinion makes no mention whatsoever of his previous $18 million valuation of that property! Instead, Engoron focused exclusively on the deed to Mar a Lago, where he asserted that Mar a Lago, rather than a private residence, was “taxed as a commercial club and the deed prohibited, in perpetuity, use of it as anything other than a social club.” That’s it!
Then, Engoron, without even making a conclusion about that, apparently assumed that its value as a “social club” is necessarily less than its value as a private residence, but he offered no evidence about how the deed purportedly affected the valuation of the property in any way whatsoever. In other words, the plaintiff proved absolutely nothing about the valuation of Mar a Lago other than a tax assessor’s original figures which the assessor said weren’t the same as the market value of the property, and shoudn’t be use as the market value.
And I must also point out that merely because the deed may have said it was for use as a social club, deeds are changed all of the time, and, in a proposed sale of the property, a legal conversion from a social club to a private residence would be relatively easy to do for any good real estate attorney in Palm Beach. So, the deed really had no impact whatsoever on the market valuation of the property under GAAP’s “highest and best use” valuation of assets.
The valuation premise for non-current assets is the concept of ‘highest and best use’. This is particularly relevant for real estate valuations, because land values depend significantly on the assumptions about the land’s potential use. The underlying assumption is that a market participant would use the asset in its highest and best use. The highest and best use takes into account the use of the asset that is physically possible, legally permissible and financially feasible.
Engoron obviously has no place being in any courtroom in America, let alone a judge making important decisions affecting peoples’ lives. Engoron has no integrity, no ethics, and he is a liar and a fraud. He should return to doing what he did best: driving a cab. Although if I were to ever set foot in that hellhole New York City, I still don’t think I’d feel safe with Engoron as the driver of my cab.
There seem to be many comments here and elsewhere conflating New York City and New York state. This court case was brought by the state of New York. The whole state needs to be avoided like the plague from Niagara Falls (the Ontario side is better anyways) to Fisher Island off of New London CT
“With the fifth anniversary of his acquittal coming up, Howard has sent off a letter to the prosectors in his case: Walter L. “Bud” Paulissen, Christina Playton, and Timothy Finley. Howard has authorized us to share it with Power Line readers. Here it is.”
Howard Root has a video of his lecture on the net. You guys that are stupid enough to like such prosecutions (Bob et al.) should read the letter, search for one of his videos, or read his book. Your ignorance cuts your own standard of living down to a fraction what it would be if you could think.
I will copy a few words sentences from the letter Root sent to the prosecutors because you guys of the idiocracy are too lazy to learn anything about what you discuss.
—
right after the verdict, one of the jurors contacted me to give me her view of your prosecution. “What the federal government did to you, your company and your employees is nothing short of criminal,” she emailed.
It was then I finally realized why you never called Dr. Lee to testify, but now I’m disgusted you failed to disclose his exonerating expert opinion as required by law, and instead decided to carry on with your misguided prosecution.
One thing you might be surprised to hear is the most-asked asked question I receive after giving my talk. That question is, “why would DOJ prosecutors act this way?” My answer is to explain the motivations of many career prosecutors (an arrogant greed for winning rather than the attainment of justice) and the lack of effective DOJ supervision.
So in 2016 I hired an investment banker and sold Vascular Solutions for $1 billion, and then I retired from medical device development at the age of 56.
What happened next was as predictable as cold is to a Minnesota winter. The large medical device company that paid the highest price to buy Vascular Solutions (as a public company CEO, I had to maximize shareholder value) slashed our R&D projects, eliminated our apprentice program and moved manufacturing jobs to Mexico in order to increase short-term profit. Not a single new medical device has been developed since I left the company four years ago (we launched between five and 10 each year when I was CEO), and many of our employees have lost their jobs while opportunities for new college graduates to enter the medical device world have been eliminated. Congratulations, your mothers must be very proud of your accomplishment.
—–
Bob and the rest of the idiocracy, your mothers must be equally proud of you.
The full lengthy letter is at:
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/02/howard-root-a-letter-to-my-prosecutors.php
The original video is off the net but apparently is on facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/GoldwaterInstitute/videos/howard-root-v-the-fda-one-mans-fight-for-free-speech/374444779773985/
The book is at Amazon.
S. Meyer,
Is that not the intent of leftist Democrats? To destroy rather than build?
Seth & Upstate,
I think you need to look at this in a slightly different light.
Companies buy other companies for many reasons.
There is a legitimate business model where companies buys another company and will cut R&D and streamline production costs as a way to milk revenue from existing product lines and let them keep running until they die out.
So they are maximizing their short term profits at the expense of the long run for those products and the division.
Its not unethical, immoral or illegal to do this.
Usually what happens is that senior staff leave and go on to build a better mousetrap.
-G
“companies buys another company and will cut R&D and streamline production costs as a way to milk revenue from existing product lines and let them keep running until they die out.”
Gumby, true, but some people produce companies for the long term, which become more fragile because of such government interference that leads to jobs moving offshore.
“Usually what happens is that senior staff leave and go on to build a better mousetrap.”
That is not necessarily true.
We are losing a lot because of government intervention and the use of suits for profit. In the mid-past century, we had a chance to make healthcare an overall profit industry for the US instead of a cost. I won’t go into the details, but we could have been the world’s healthcare provider. Today, we do a fraction of what could have been done.
Healthcare in Israel is universal .. . The Israeli healthcare system is based on the National Health Insurance Law of 1995,[1] which mandates all citizens resident in the country to join one of four official health insurance organizations, known as Kupat Holim (קופת חולים – “Patient Funds”) which are run as not-for-profit organizations and are prohibited by law from denying any Israeli resident membership
*Wiki
Upstate, that is the result of their actions. The reason behind such actions are numerous.
Their already-diminishing tax base will now implode. By the time NYC is bankrupt and begging the federal government for a bailout, Trump will be about three years into his Presidency.
New York City tops list as nation’s ‘worst’ municipal finances for 7th straight year
“The Big Apple’s financial condition worsened over the past year by an estimated $6.1 billion, resulting in a $61,800 per taxpayer burden and earning it an “F” grade.”
https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/report-new-york-city-tops-nation-worst-municipal-finances
As always, leftist Democrats with TDS would rather “Get Trump” while destroying everything they touch.
@cionnath
Don’t know.
The question is how fast could a hypothetical Trump administration ramp up deportation efforts.
Essentially those who crossed the border under Biden got processed. Those that didn’t get caught can be tossed back at any time w little due process.
Those that went and got a court date are a different matter.
They claimed asylum and were granted asylum pending a hearing.
Now if you increase the judges and courts, you can speed up the hearings.
And this is where things get interesting.
In theory, the courts could demand the individuals show up at a specified date and time.
If they can’t be found to be notified and a public site which has their court dates… and they miss, then automatic deportation.
If they show up to court, requesting asylum is an affirmative defense. In court the burden is on them to show that they deserve asylum. If they fail to do so. Its immediate deportation.
That will clear the jog jam and will remove the burden.
There’s more to this but that’s the basics.
-G
Dear Prof Turley,
There is a difference between Trump selling Trump, and Biden paying cash. Cash talks .. . https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/biden-bought-275-million-beach-house-in-cash-around-the-time-hunter-texted-chinese-pal-urging-10-million-deal-report/ar-AA1iFf9k
If there were no ‘victims’, Trump is a ‘whale’, and they were ‘made whole’ according to ‘contractual obligations’, who initiated this case?
Surely there must have been at least a compliant (a whiff of something.), before the NY AG can prosecute a case where there was no harm/no foul .. . much less a pre-emptive judgement?
The value of real estate is whatever the market will bear. Whether Trump’s Apt. is an opulent 10,000sqft .. . or a dusty 30,000sqft loft.
*location, location, location.
@snowden
The state initiated this case under the dubious guise that the people were harmed by Trump’s actions.
The allegation is that Trump had a pattern of lying about the valuation of his properties in order to get deals and enrich himself.
The reality is that this didn’t happen.
Does Trump exaggerate? Absolutely. To him, everything he does is perfect. Is that reality? No.
Did Trump break the law? No.
Engoron actually proved Trumps case in his setting what he thought Mar a Lago was worth based on tax assessments.
Even the FL Assessor’s office warned him that it was improper to use their numbers to set the actual estimated value of the property.
Yet he did so. (This could potentially be actionable by Trump when the dust settles.)
>”The state initiated this case under the dubious guise that the people were harmed by Trump’s actions.”
What people were harmed? You mean like a ‘class action’? Don’t think this meets that criteria .. . evidently no one was harmed!
*dust to dust.
@Snowden
Ah the crux of the argument.
I read the statute months ago.
The issue is that it was written to go after companies/individuals who made material misrepresentations to enrich themselves at others expense.
We both agree that this didn’t happen.
No, I didn’t mean class action, but that the act of misrepresentation benefited Trump at the expense of others. Which was never the case and James failed to meet that burden of proof. Engoron gave her a summary judgement. Early in the case.
-G
Governor Hocul has assured business people that they won’t be persecuted as long as they are Democrats.
“As James gleefully uses this law to break up a major New York corporation, it is hard to imagine many businesses rushing to the Big Apple.”
With such a verdict standing, it is not just the Trump corporation that suffers. Other companies take heed which increases the risk of investment in NYS and increases things like interest rates on loans to those companies. Still, other out of state companies dealing with another company might also have to take that into account when dealing with a company located in NYS.
This award is injurious to the economic health of NYS and its citizens.
S. Meyer– “This award is injurious to the economic health of NYS and its citizens.”
+++
True but unimportant to these radicals so long as they can attack Trump.
Seeing what they are doing in plain view it is no longer difficult to accept that they also cheated extensively in the last election. I imagine similar things are happening at the state level.
Young, there is no end to the corruption or the idiocy of the left. They will destroy this country, and then Bob and the gang of idiots will complain. That is when Stalin would kill his previous fanatic followers.
Ironically, S Meyer, in the past it was New York City which greatly helped Trump to fame and fortune with lucrative real estate deals.
*they wanted to give that pirate the Ansonia Hotel, and help pay for its renovation, until a bunch of local ‘Jew’ friends pitched a fit.
DGSnowden, your anti-Semitic ideas have diminished normal brain function, which is compounded by your lack of knowledge, history, and other vital areas of study.
NYC didn’t actually help Trump. He helped NYC because, at one point, NYC was in danger of bankruptcy. Few wanted to invest money in the city, but he was willing and took the risk early in the game. That helped prompt other entries into the NYC housing and commercial markets. NYC did not go bankrupt.
NYC real estate is very much about deal-making. The law restricts building heights, but if you want to build higher, NYC will permit it if you provide open space. When NYC needs commercial development in particular areas, it will provide tax relief and other financial benefits. Get on the wrong side of NYC and expect trouble. Is there a lot of corruption in the marketplace involving NYC? Yes. Such corruption exists everywhere in the world. Only fools like you don’t know it. The business people learned to deal with it, and Trump remained clean.
Apparently, you know nothing about the Ansonia Hotel on Broadway. You must have read something about it from someone’s scribbles in the used copy you bought of the Protocols of Zion.
Har. I know, S. Meyer, that ever since Donald ‘greed is good’ Trump stared lapping up delinquent NYC real estate, often with lucrative incentives on the public dime, his wealth and fame has blossomed, while poor Grandma had to move out of her rent-control cubby hole on the upper west side.
Grandma is slow, but she is old.
You have to be ultra rich to live NYC now. They’ve run off everybody that made the place interesting.
*Bibi&Biden are anti-Semitic.
GDSnowdon, you sound more ignorant the more you speak. Someone else who thought you might have something to say, said that recently.
“while poor Grandma had to move out of her rent-control cubby hole on the upper west side.”
Rent control is one of the main reasons housing in Manhattan got so expensive. They didn’t teach you about rent control in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Gov. Hokum insists that businesses have nothing to fear from multiple wanton prosecutions of Trump. Of course, she owes her job to Gov. Cuomo being threatened with prosecution by Letitia James. At the point where the revolution eats its own, nobody is safe.
Don’t doubt me, ye Democrat donors.
Every wealthy businessman in NY is at the mercy of anyone filing a claim against him that follows “the narrative.” Blackmail, extortion, and ruin are now on the table. As E. Jean Carroll and Cristine Blasey Ford demonstrate, the claim can border on the absurd and still result in limitless damage to career, reputation, and freedom.
Trump may eventually be saved on appeal, but given how politically corrupt even federal Democrat judges have been, Trump will likely have to go all the way to the Supremes to get fair treatment under the 8th Amendment. Of course, that assumes Brett Kavanaugh shows as much backbone as Trump did when Kavanaugh was accused by Democrats. We will see.
Chief Justice Roberts will have to face his own Nuremberg moment in all of this. The Mob will insist. As Rudyard Lynch said (I’m paraphrasing), there are some hills we have to be prepared to die on. To the extent we flee those hills, history will judge us. Brilliant and courageous advice.
“Gov. Hokum insists that businesses have nothing to fear from multiple wanton prosecutions of Trump. ”
What NY liberal judges and others around the country are doing to Trump is a wake-up call to those who actually increase America’s wealth. Take any large public corporation and permit crazy judges to do the same to the CEO of that company and watch the stock price tank. This includes the stock that the terminally stupid Bob might be invested in.
Seth,
I think the irony is lost on most.
Hokum [sic] err Hochul is making Trump’s case for him.
She is admitting that they are out to get Trump.
That is to say that this is at the core election interference.
or ‘lawfare’.
-G
You are correct, G. What the left is doing to Trump is obvious. They are immoral, dumb and can only think in the immediate time frame.
Diogenes,
“Gov. Hokum insists that businesses have nothing to fear from multiple wanton prosecutions of Trump. ”
As long as they toe the Democrat line, they have nothing to fear.
While the left plays around with laptop theories that are Russian disinformation, take note of the headline from the wSJ.
FBI Director Says China Cyberattacks on U.S. Infrastructure Now at Unprecedented Scale
Christopher Wray warns that pre-positioned malware could be triggered to disrupt critical systems in the U.S.
Then look at our southern border, where it has been said that 25,000+ military-age Chinese males have entered illegally.
Does anyone believe the Biden Administration is protecting America?
https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/fbi-director-says-china-cyberattacks-on-u-s-infrastructure-now-at-unprecedented-scale-c8de5983
S. Meyer,
This the pay off from all those monies China threw at the BCF?
The FBI raided and shut down what they called a China police station in NYC.
And there are more through out the US.
Then let us not forget the biolab found in CA.
No, Biden is not protecting America.
And the Left blames the border on Trump, to boot. Unbelievable gaslighting. The Left is clinically insane.
If anybody really believes Trump is worse than the Democrats, that person belongs on Epstein Island.
While Trump invests & cheats in real estate, some other billionaires don’t.
Take George Sores who uses currency trading. George often destroyed other countries this way. Perhaps his most famous achievement was his role in the 1992 currency crisis that forced the British government to withdraw from the European exchange rate mechanism (ERM) and devalue its currency, the pound sterling.
Then there is Warren Buffett’s private casino in the stock market. The use of black box computer derivatives. The “financial weapon of mass destruction”.
A better legal discussion of the case:
https://reason.com/volokh/2024/02/19/thoughts-on-judge-engorons-opinion-a-response-to-calabresi/
It also refers to a second column there with an opposing view.
The article by Steven Calabresi to which this is a response is better.
I disagree. That Calabresi states something does not make it true. For example, Calabresi claims “Ms. James and Judge Engeron have essentially turned a vaguely worded New York State law into a modern day Bill of Attainder…. they have violated Trump’s First Amendment right to freedom of speech and of the press; his Fifth Amendment right not to be deprived of liberty or property without due process of law…” but as L. Luppen points out, “The trouble with libertarians is they’ll write and publish whole reams of this sh*t where they get everything wrong (a bill of attainder comes from the legislature not a fairly conducted trial, that sort of trial is procedural due process, etc.) …” Nor have Trump’s speech rights been violated by this ruling. Calabresi claims “The New York State laws used to go after Trump have NEVER been used in this way,” but Kerr provides counterexamples. Calabresi claims “the banks that made loans to Trump did not take his assessment of the net worth of his assets at face value,” but a search on “relied” in the text of the ruling shows him to be wrong there too. And these are not the only examples of his erroneous claims.
Isn’t the real issue that no one can value real estate precisely except on the day a P&SA is executed. Maybe that does not matter since none of the lawyers including Turley seem to mention it.
@Dennis,
No.
The underlying issue is that you have James claiming Trump lied and his misrepresentations were material, even when they were proven by testimony that they were not.
When you look at the loan application… Trump lists the properties and their estimated valuations that he is using to establish his wealth and as potential collateral to the loan should he default.
Note that this isn’t in question, Trump did do this.
Where James alleges Trump lied, was in his valuations.
However, here is the crux of the problem. Trump’s valuations are not material.
In fact the only material fact is Trump’s claim to ownership of those properties. And here, Trump didn’t lie.
So there was no material misrepresentation.
The banks did their own appraisals which is what they used to help determine the risk of the loan. Add to this that they also included in Trump’s favor that he was a ‘whale’ and would drive additional business that would also be profitable.
Its not that you have a victimless crime, but in reality, no criminal act.
I’m not sure why Turley doesn’t talk about this… most likely you need to have worked in the loan/mortgage industry to know this.
-G
I read it. Here’s the deal. Some lawyers do not know their a$$ from a hole in the ground when it comes to accounting, or business things. So I forgive Volokh for that, because it is pretty evident that sort of law isn’t his thing. The second opinion was better written and argued, because he did have some knowledge of what he was talking about.
I do have some experience in law and business and accounting. So here is how this stuff work. When you wish to get a loan on a piece of commercial property, you have some sort of idea what the property is worth, and how you will repay the loan. When it comes properties, everyone is Gorlock the Destroyer, to some extent. Gorlock is a grossly overweight trans-female, who thinks he is a 10. I could give you a link, but it is a holiday, and why do mean things to your eyes.
So, I think that my property is worth $50 million, and I want to borrow $40 million against it. The lender, a bank or whoever, is never going to give me $40 million without doing their own appraisal first. They will only loan money based on their own appraisal. And frankly, any appraisal is sort of a guess. A commercial office building might be worth $500 million one day, and then the following year, go on the market for $250 million because of occupancy declines, which is happening.
Any appraisal is nothing but an educated guess, based on comparables, and an expectation of revenues, and overall market conditions. What laws seek to prevent, is lenders over-appraising properties, and then getting into financial straits. Which, is not the case with Trump’s loans.
Floyd,
Thank you for your attorney analysis and for NOT including the link to Gorlock the Destroyer.
Floyd: One thing I have not seen discussed is the concept/factor of “intangible asset” valuation. Is it not true that Trump’s properties may be worth more than area “comps” because prospective buyers might perceive additional value attached to a property owned by someone as famous (or infamous, according to some commenters, ha ha) as Trump? While that is not factored into property valuations for purposes of taxes, etc., it certainly could affect market value.
@lin
Yes, of course. There are all sorts of intangible considerations, things that are not “touchable.” As I wrote above, “expectations” are a part of the process. What will it be worth a few years from now, or what can I do with this property. For example, a 1964 Epiphone Casino Guitar goes on sale. What is it worth? Function wise, maybe $800 to $2,000 or less, because you can make a new one play and sound just like that old one, and that is what new ones cost. But there is cachet attached. It is vintage, and therefore, it might go for $4,000 in a sale. You see crazy prices for vintage Fenders, ($15,000 and up) and a new Schecter Telecaster plays just as darn good, or better, for maybe $700. And, the Schecter has a more playable neck, instead of the baseball bat like neck of some old Fenders. But I digress, – Ah, but one of the Beatles played this Casino guitar! Now, it is up to $2,000,000 or more. So, when you buy this guitar, at $4,000 or at $2,000,000 – you have some expectation that it will hold its value, and you can sell it for more, which is an intangible. Or, you just have more money than you have sense.
!!!!
Like always, you never read your links
Orin Kerr admitts he has done no work to look at this case;. He is interesting in taking note of a previous post by Calabrisie that states the law has never been used against the conusmer. he notes a couple but the law is used to protect consumers and have actual losses
“As I said up at the top, I don’t have a particular view of whether AG James should have brought this case in the first place. I also don’t like the state intervening and preventing someone from doing business in the state, especially when everyone is on notice that he’s not truthful.”
In short never follow the trolls links, they are meaningless.
Good response to ShillAnon. But let’s use the shills for an example. The shills here say many things which are stupidly wrong, and their opinions are stupidly wrong.
Could they be sued, for knowingly making false statements, if say NY had a law against that. It depends. What if they really really believe the stupid stuff they say? What if they really are just wrong, and stupid?
Same with Trump. Maybe he was wrong about a valuation. Does that make what he said criminal. Particularly when he knows that the lender is going to do an independent appraisal? And base their lending on their own appraisal?
Think about it. Have you ever sold a house? Doesn’t the potential buyer usually send out an appraiser, particularly if they are financing the purchase? You think your house is worth $600,000 and the appraiser says $475,000. Guess which number the mortgage company is going with.
“Does that make what he said criminal.”
If you’re under the impression that this was a criminal case, you may not know enough about the matter to have an informed opinion about it.
Look up the term “quasi-criminal.” It applies when there are punitive damages.
“Orin Kerr admitts he has done no work to look at this case” is false.
And no, it’s not a “meaningless” link. You just don’t like most of what it says.
Professor Turley: Another important point is that the loans that are at the center of this case are many years old dating back to 2011. Thus, anyone doing business needs not just to consider the legal, business and regulatory environment in New York State today, but how bad the legal, business and regulatory environments will be ten or more years into the future. Will an economic activity viewed perfectly fine today become a political and legal target ten years in the future? Will judicial activism be reigned or punishments be meted out even more routinely to disfavored political actors? One cannot know. Moreover, since the court has now determined that you’ve committed fraud even if nobody is harmed, there must be tens of thousands of past transactions on the books that now come into question. Might the state also want to use the courts to fleece individuals and firms involved in those transactions? Given the rapidly “evolving” state of law in New York, businesses would be wise to avoid the Empire State.
I’m trying to be helpful with all due respect. “reined in” is what you were looking for there. Reign means to rule over.
I’m struck by how few of the critics of this opinion have actually read it, apparently including Turley. It goes into some detail as to how the victims lost money and the evidence of that.
This is also a bonkers take on business. Businesses are not going to avoid New York because they could hypothetically be found liable for filing fraudulent financial statements; they already knew that. While many would prefer jurisdictions that failed to address fraud when discovered, few will take steps to avoid one that does–and none that we want in business in the first place.
There is no “fraud” if no one was “fooled” and suffered economic loss as a result. Can you name anyone who fits this description?
Edwardmahl,
Well said.
And that is why all us normal people see through this as a political sham and election interference.
The DB representative took the stand and said everyone agreed to the terms, signed off on the loan. Trump paid the loan back, on time with the interest that was agreed to.
There was no fraud and no one was fooled. No one lost money, DB profited off the loan that was agreed to.
If you steal $100 from your boss, use it to make $200 at the racetrack, and then replace the $100 you stole, you’ve still committed a crime even though your boss didn’t suffer an economic loss. If you drive drunk, you’ve broken the law even if you don’t get into an accident.
Have you read this ruling and the previous one? They explain why Trump engaged in business fraud.
“If you steal $100 from your boss . . .”
You keep flogging that asinine analogy.
The financial institutions were not Trump’s boss. A voluntary loan agreement between entities is not a “steal.” It’s called a contract. And the Trader Principle.
On the other hand, James, et al. did steal — via decreeing, ex post facto, what those terms should have been. That is called the looter’s principle.
The court’s opinion goes into considerable length on that point, specifying how Trump’s misrepresentations saved him over one hundred million dollars in interest payments. To whom do you think that interest would have been paid?
There is no lost interest to the bank as they can charge what they want. DB still valued his properties at $2 billion so there plenty of collateral
Prove it. Show us who lost and how much money
If you have not read the opinion by this point, I think it’s likely that you simply won’t. But if you’re interested, it goes into great detail as to (a) who lost money, (b) how much they lost, and (c) how it was proven.
If anyone wants to read it: https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/ef72526861902856/1e996397-full.pdf
We should be grateful that there are at least a few law professors like JT who are willing to challenge the new and authoritarian instistution devised by Demorats known as “Lawfare.” The silence of the legal profession, and Republican politicians, is notable.
There have been times like this in the past.
In the late Roman Republic, the institution of “proscription” (public listing of names) was used to destroy perceived enemies of the State by dicatators like Sulla. It was the duty of private citizens to report or even kill the listed “criminals”. One result was that their Estates were confiscated, and the privileges of their descendents restricted. Cicero was one the most prominent victims. https://www.britannica.com/topic/proscription
In the early empire, the earlier instiutuion of the “delator” (denouncer) was extended to allow private persons to report often vague crimes (e.g. “dishonoring the godhead of Augustus”) to public authorities, who would initiate criminal proceedings. If successful, the delators would receive a share of the Estates of the accused. Early Roman emperors such as Tiberius used the system to destroy political opponents. See 2020-5 Xavier University, J. Scott, “On a Defense of Democracy: How Roman Delatores and EmperorsOn a Defense of Democracy: How Roman Delatores and Emperors Dismantled Libertas and Established the Principate in the EarlyDismantled Libertas and Established the Principate in the Early Roman EmpireRoman Empire” https://www.exhibit.xavier.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1042&context=hab
The effect on Rome was ruinous. Old families, the main support of the State, were wiped out. Economic activity was reduced, taxes were increased, and the middle class virtually disappeared. Then came the “barbarians”, who were probably viewed as liberators by many.
@edwardmahl
The parallels are definitely striking. The Biden White House might as well be Caligula. The fact that what you’ve elucidated presaged the total collapse of the entire Roman empire, not just the pockets people ‘didn’t like’, appears to be lost on pretty much anyone that still thinks the modern left hasn’t gone over a cliff. Nobody is thinking about their pronouns when they are being stomped to death.
Thank you EdwardM for the Roman history. I have had a feeling for a few years now, that the country is on the brink of some massive societal breakdown. A riot here or there over time, is kind of the norm, but there has been too much hate energy put into the system by the Left, via the Democrat power structure. We have trannies, masses of them, here and in other countries, going on rampages, as with Riley Gaines being stuck for three hours by a mob. And the mob is not being dealt with in any meaningful fashion. Then, with blacks, there have been raids and forays outside the “hood”, to the nice areas of town, to loot, and commit crimes. Millions of illegals being let into the country, to the point even Democrat mayors are squealing. And then you have the sheer, underlying hate, as you see in this video – the kind of hatred that is one day going to get a spark, and ignite. I find what occurs in this video more frightening than I do the persecution of Trump, because this is wide, not just deep in a few places. How does a society deal with this, and this is in Florida, no less, where hopefully there will be some consequences. How do these kind of people find jobs, and how will they raise their kids.
Edwardmahl,
Well said and thank you for bringing up the comparisons.
Here is a good summation, from J H Kunstler:
” In New York City, the Woke lunatics did a victory dance after Judge Arthur Engoron, beaming his Joker smile, laid a $350-million fine on Mr. Trump for conducting a set of normal real estate transactions with a bank that profited from doing business with him. Many are still trying to figure out how that amounts to a crime of any sort. Don’t suppose that the check is in the mail, though. There is an appeals process that leads, you may be sure, to a dismissal of that inane judgment and the puerile hypotheticals that the case derived from. And, by and by, you also might expect a countersuit for malicious prosecution when all that smoke clears. New York Attorney General Letitia James, lacking impulse control, is for the moment enjoying the fulfillment of her campaign promise to “get Trump.” Waiting to see how much she enjoys losing her law license in the days to come.”
=========
I hope here is right. He also had this in the article, and this is proof that God exists, and that he has a sense of humor/irony – Brandon Rottinghaus —- OMG, could anything ever be more on point? Anyway, here is what he wrote:
“Hark! We are informed this President’s Day by The New York Times that a poll out of the University of Houston, led by one prof of poly-sci named (get this name) Brandon Rottinghaus, ranks “Joe Biden” at No. 14, way above average among the forty-six demi-gods elected to run the US government since 1789. It’s a helluva good bit of news for a nation in need of reassurance in these dark days, don’t you agree? They’ve got him sandwiched between John Quincy Adams and Woodrow Wilson, beating out the likes of Andrew Jackson, Grover Cleveland, James Monroe, and Ronald Reagan. Mr. Trump is ranked dead last, of course.
“Biden’s most important achievements may be that he rescued the presidency from Trump, resumed a more traditional style of presidential leadership and is gearing up to keep the office out of his predecessor’s hands this fall,” the report states.
Gearing up? I’m sure. If gearing up means calling a lid on your life an hour after breakfast. And what do you suppose they mean by “a more traditional form of leadership.” Arranging serial overseas military humiliations? Selling favors to all comers from foreign lands? Inviting transsexuals to cavort on the White House lawn? Abolishing control of US borders? Running a $2-trillion annual deficit? Mandating unsafe and ineffective so-called “vaccine” shots on millions? Cancelling the First Amendment? Stealing elections? Conspiring to jail his political adversaries?”
Happy President’s Day, a holiday celebrating the guy who said Presidents should not be kings and the guy who said insurrectionists should not be President.
Anon. – Wasn’t George Washington an “insurrectionist”?
Not in America, no.
Oh, were you thinking of Britain? Unsurprisingly, he didn’t become President in Britain.
There is no such office.
Incidentally, Washington was notable for not prosecuting or persecuting the Tories who opposed American independence. He understood that a long-lasting democracy requires voluntary limits on political struggle.
Joe Biden: First sitting president in US history
to be declared legally incompetent to stand trial.
“I will beat Donald Reagan this September.
You can take that to the Post Office.” ~ President Biden
The judge will “retire” and write a tell all book and make millions.
It is either that or he has gone off the deep end.
Both
Yep. and he’ll actually sell only 100 books and 5 people will read it.
Our judicial system seems to have evolved to its Fascist phase.
Points to ponder:
If the government won’t protect the vote
or the border
or the constitution
or the rule of law,
then why do we have a government?
Ding ding ding….
I just wonder how many other judges in this country would have made the same decision as Judge Engoron if faced with the same facts regarding someone he or she considered a political opponent. I honestly don’t know the answer. I would hope that it would be only a handful, but I don’t know. To me, this case is absolutely ridiculous, and I don’t understand how any honest judge would not just toss it immediately. But, then again, I don’t understand how a majority of the Supreme Court would have ever gone along with the reasoning in Roe v. Wade, for example. The temptation to ignore honest reasoning and decide a case based on one’s personal prejudices must be strong, but I don’t know how many judges would actually yield to that temptation. Judges, after all, are just people, even though we expect them to actually uphold the law.
The Three Musketeers of New York (Arthur Engoron, Kathy Hochul and Letitia James) courageously lead that state into the crapper in the manner Laurel and Hardy.
New Yorkers, once considered to be sophisticated and ‘Ever Upward’, reveal themselves to be the home of the dysfunctional ‘on-the-dole’ crowd.
Sadly, this wound is self induced New York and a long time coming. It will heal very slowly, if at all.
Don’t forget Alvin Bragg, AOC, Cuomo, Adams, etc., etc. New York has almost as many “Musketeers” as California. Those in DC are visitors.