Below is my column in Fox.com on the New York opinion tossing out the grotesque half-billion-dollar fine imposed by Judge Arthur Engoron. Despite the support of many lawyers and pundits, Engoron could not get a single judge to agree with him on the fine.
Here is the column:
In New York, a court revealed that a leading citizen had cooked the books by inflating questionable figures without any support in reality. Moreover, his wild overvaluation was widely viewed as motivated by his self-aggrandizement. The final reported figures are so absurdly inflated that they were rejected in their entirety. In the end, he was off by over half a billion dollars.
That man is Judge Arthur Engoron.
After a New York appellate court unanimously threw out Engoron’s absurd half-a-billion-dollar judgment and interest against President Donald Trump, the irony was crushing. It was Engoron who seemed, as he characterized Trump witnesses, as having “simply denied reality.” It made his notorious reliance on an assessment of Mar-a-Lago as worth between $18 million and $27.6 million seem like good accounting.
In the end, he could not get a single judge to preserve a single dollar of that fine.
For some of us who covered that trial, the most vivid image of Engoron came at the start. He indicated that he did not want cameras in the courtroom, but when the networks showed up, Engoron took off his glasses and seemed to pose for the cameras.
It was a “Sunset Boulevard” moment. We only need Gloria Swanson looking into the camera to speak to “those wonderful people out there in the dark!” and announcing “all right, [Ms. James], I’m ready for my close-up.”
The close-up was not a good idea, and, on appeal, it was perfectly disastrous. The court found little legal or factual basis for his fine. The purported witnesses not only did not lose a dime, but they testified that they made money on the loans and wanted new loans with the Trump administration. That did not move Engoron. From the start, he was speaking to those “wonderful people out there.”
You did not have to go far. In both the civil and criminal trials of Trump in New York, there was a carnival atmosphere in the street outside the courthouse. It was really not derangement as much as delirium. Democrat New York Attorney General Letitia James had injected lawfare directly into the veins of New Yorkers. Pledging in her campaign to bag Trump (without bothering to name any crime or violation), James was elected based on her recreational rather than legal appeal.
Yet, James could not have succeeded if she had not had a judge willing to ignore reality and cook the books on the fines. She needed a partner in lawfare. She needed Engoron.
Even for some anti-Trump commentators, the judgment was impossible to defend and some acknowledged that they had never seen any case like this one brought in New York.
Judge David Friedman gave Engoron a close-up that would have made Swanson wince. He detailed how the underlying law “has never been used in the way it is being used in this case – namely, to attack successful, private, commercial transactions, negotiated at arm’s length between highly sophisticated parties fully capable of monitoring and defending their own interests.”
He accused Engoron of participating in an effort clearly directed by James as “ending with the derailment of President Trump’s political career and the destruction of his real estate business.”
Other judges said that Engoron’s fine was so off base and engorged that it was an unconstitutional order under the Eighth Amendment, protecting citizens from “cruel and unusual” punishments. So, Engoron not only inflated the figures but shredded the Constitution in his effort to deliver a blow against Trump.
Trump can now appeal the residual parts of the Engoron decision imposing limits on the Trump family doing business in New York. Some of those limits could be moot by the time of any final judgment. Ironically, if Engoron had shown a modicum of restraint, he might have secured a victory. During the trial in New York, I said that he would have been smart to impose a dollar fine and limited injunctive relief. That, however, required a modicum of judicial restraint and judgment.
Instead, Engoron chose to walk down the stairway into infamy. He was off by half a billion dollars, which could put him in the Bernie Madoff class of judges.
In other words, if he wanted to be remembered on that first day, Arthur Engoron succeeded.
There needs to be an accounting of how much money Letitia James cost New York State taxpayers for this failed prosecution. And that should include reimbursement of Trump for the bond (with interest) he had to post necessary to proceed with the appeal in order to have his constitutional rights protected. She is one of the reasons why New York State is more than $250 billion (that’s $250,000,000,000) in debt. I am forever grateful that my family and I had the foresight to leave that State of my birth 15 years ago.
The reimbursement should come out of Letitia James own pocket.
(from a second mortgage on her second principal residence?)
Vicente, you make a very good point. This case is not the first absurd case that Letitia James has brought, but it is the most egregious example of her ability to squander taxpayer dollars. A few years ago, James sued the SEC when it adopted a new regulation. She should not be re-elected.
If the entire monetary fine is 0 then we must assume that the crime was akin to jaywalking in the financial and real estate world or there was no crime at all. Why did they not Vacate the entire conviction and clean up the full mess. Seems there is also a real reason to go after the office of the AG. Lodge ethics violations and also sue for prosecutorial malpractice. The state failed to sufficiently monitor its agents and took no action while this miscarriage was taking place. Definitely file for tourney’s cost.
Vacate? It called saving face. Part is still in the works.
It’s a dead case. Obvious to everyone but you. Nothing will ever come of this action. It’s over in all but name.
The “jurist” should hereafter be labeled “Engoron, the black-robed moron.”
Its Engmoron. As i have said for a year.
The Left’s spin: Trump was not vindicated.
The fine (plus interest) was some $515 million.
That fine is now 0.
Sounds like vindication to me.
The fine was judged excessive, not wrong.
Aww, are you still a believer? Face reality, the case is over in all but name.
Judge Arthur Engoron, America’s Clown Judge
Trump should sue the State of New York for the cost of his $175,000,000.00 dollar bond that he was forced to buy in order to appeal this case.
No, he should sue the judge and the AG personally. He has a good case, all he has to do is present the appeals court decision as his evidence.
Its in NY. Different process.
I considered it another method of election interference to freeze Trump’s monies to prevent or interfere with his ability to campaign. It was all a sham using liberal courts to go after the candidate. Remember, this was a misdemeanor at best blown into an abomination and misuse of the courts to persecute a candidate. I bet those leftist minions are not sleeping well these days…
Madman – They’ll continue to sleep well – until their own money is drained to pay back (with penalty and interest) the persecuted. Only then, will others have second-thoughts on following ‘their’ example.
No. It was a civil fraud case – no misdemeanor alleged.
Reminded me of a Stalinist courtroom scene where Truth did not matter, where outcome was the only objective, and Justice was never a consideration. Incredible damage was done through the actions of this judge and Letitia James. One the puppet master, the other the willing puppet. Now that a light has been shown, and the show revealed for what it was, we are left to survey the damage. The accused is out millions of dollars paid for defense. Reputations are sullied without any evidence of wrongdoing. Voters nationwide have been influenced by lies and innuendo and political corruption by politicians in high offices. Worst of all, the perpetrators of this macabre theater still hold positions of power and influence and authority, free to ply their trade again. It may seem that Justice has prevailed, but that’s a curtain over reality. True Justice will come only when those who perpetrated this abominable weaponization of the System are fully held accountable and banished from office.
Engoron showed to the world he is nothing more than a Left Wing Unqualified DEM Judge who should be expelled from the courts. NY City/NY State judges, for the most part, are nothing but rubber stamps for the DEM Party and the Woke Crowd. AG James will have her day in court for Mortgage Fraud and also they are looking at her for much more, she belongs in an Orange Suit in a Medium Security Jail no country club. Same goes for AG Bragg. Maybe they will lose some weight
For once I agree with Turley.
“For once I agree with Turley.”
Keep going, because you’re also incorrect in your other opinions. He’s provably much smarter than you.
I’m beginning to think that you two posting as “Anonymous” are the same guy/gal/whatever. It’s amusing to watch “you”, on your reply to your other “you” with continuous insults that add nothing to the conversation.
Turley’s a hack who signed on with Fox to leapfrog his career and instead has gotten stuck doing hits on network in the evening and being assigned push piece op Ed’s to publish on his blog. Occasionally he’s put up to testify before Congress where he gets his clock cleaned by D lawyers turned congress people and he then seethes resentfully about it.
Aww, are you jealous because Professor Turley is a successful law professor and author, while you’re just trash that trolls his blog for a quarter a post?
The only Judicial negative to this ruling is it did not include an order of recusal and a monetary sanction on both Judge Engoron and Ms. James for their unconstitutional actions!!!!!!!!
In addition, the Judge did place a value of 12 million on Mar a lago. There are plenty of lesser properties not on the ocean front and intercoastal, eg, just intercoastal , that are tear downs where the asking price now is 6 to 7 mil. I know of a condo in palm beach at 6 million. Part if a 2 building development only 6 stories.
Another part was the judge being one sided on evidence and pleadings.
In plain english, Its far more than the award
Fairness means that the punishment should fit the crime.
“Fairness means that the punishment should fit the crime.”
In this case, there was no crime, therefore there should be no punishment.
“Some of those limits (e.g. can’t do business in NY) could be moot by the time of any final judgment”
Aren’t they moot now and haven’t they been all along pending appeal ?
Just wondering.
Not that collecting rent checks on grandpappy’s tenements is that strenuous a business.
Looks like the family has flipped to crypto
“Not that collecting rent checks on grandpappy’s tenements is that strenuous a business.
Looks like the family has flipped to crypto”
Aww, are you all butt hurt? Trump probably sells a creme for that, you know.
Unfortunately, this Frankenstein of a case is still alive, albeit without arms and legs, as the concurring opinion by Judge Friedman points out. Let’s hope the NY Court of Appeals drives the necessary wooden stake through its heart, which is so richly deserved.
so what is the punishment?
The limitations on Trump’s ability to do business in NY still stand… for now…. One suspects that those, too, will disappear on further appeal. Both the AG and the judge in this case are living proof that blind hatred eventually harms the hater more than the hated.
This case is a dead letter. Everyone but the AG knows that. Besides, how is she going to prosecute the case from her cell in federal prison?
Suze
Trump’s ability to do business in NY still stand… for now….
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Why? At this rate NY is trying to destroy it’s self. Just look at the fool trying to become the Mayor.
Like the city isn’t broke enough.
Democrats are FASCISTS….pretty straight forward
They are fighting a Civil War.
No one is ever punished for their crimes.
The JUDGE belongs in jail with the AG of NY and DA Bragg
Isn’t it amazing that the so-called anti-fascists always turn out to be fascists themselves?
It is beyond amazing: it is now expected and commonplace.
These disgusting, degenerate judges, and others on the left, should be punished in multiple ways, so as to be made an example of what to, not, ever, do, again!
Anyone taking bets on if trolls even show up here today?
Where’s the troll who who was obsessing over the fine’s accruing interest the other day? How’s your interest accruing now? 🤣
The judge should be disbarred or a best, forced to retire! He made a mockery of the law and has shown that politics is more important than law or the individual. Not one person in NY should every be comfortable going before this judge. He has made a fool of himself and no one benefitted except his daughter and for a short while, those who lauded his decisions.
not just disbarred or retired….JAILED
Judges don’t get to IGNORE LAWS!
I wish, but the dems/libs will protect him and his daughter.