 |
| Source:NBC News- Defendant Don & perhaps soon to be Bankrupt Don, all in the same person. |
Source:The New Democrat
The judge who presided over a civil business fraud trial against Donald Trump on Friday ordered the former president, his sons, business associates and company to pay over $350 million in damages and temporarily limited their ability to do business in New York.
Judge Arthur Engoron ordered the former president and the Trump Organization to pay over $354 million in damages, and bars Trump "from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in New York for a period of three years."
He also continued "the appointment of an Independent Monitor" and ordered "the installation of an Independent Director of Compliance" for the company.
During the trial, Trump and executives at his company, including his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, attempted to blame exaggerated financial statements that were the heart of the AG's case on the accountants who compiled them. Engoron disagreed.
"There is overwhelming evidence from both interested and non-interested witnesses, corroborated by documentary evidence, that the buck for being truthful in the supporting data valuations stopped with the Trump Organization, not the accountants," he wrote.
The judge also cited the lack of remorse by Trump and his executives after the fraud was discovered as showing the need for a monitor.
"Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological. They are accused only of inflating asset values to make more money. The documents prove this over and over again. This is a venial sin, not a mortal sin. Defendants did not commit murder or arson. They did not rob a bank at gunpoint. Donald Trump is not Bernard Madoff. Yet, defendants are incapable of admitting the error of their ways," Engoron wrote.
"Defendants’ refusal to admit error — indeed, to continue it, according to the Independent Monitor — constrains this Court to conclude that they will engage in it going forward unless judicially restrained," he added.
Trump attorney Alina Habba called the verdict "a manifest injustice — plain and simple."
"Given the grave stakes, we trust that the Appellate Division will overturn this egregious verdict and end this relentless persecution against my clients," she said in a statement.
The judgment is the second this year against Trump after he was hit last month with an $83.3 million verdict in writer E. Jean Carroll's defamation case against him. The former president could also face four criminal trials this year as his presidential campaign barrels toward the November election, with the first set to begin in New York state court on March 25th.
New York Attorney General Letitia James had been seeking $370 million from Trump, his company and its top executives, including his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, alleging "repeated and persistent fraud" that included falsifying business records and financial statements. James had argued those financial statements were at times exaggerated by as much as $2.2 billion.
James contended the defendants used the inflated financial statements to obtain bank loans and insurance policies at rates he otherwise wouldn’t have been entitled to and "reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains."
Trump had maintained his financial statements were conservative, and has called the AG's allegations politically motivated and a "fraud on me."
From NBC News
"Former President Donald Trump says his brand alone is worth over $10 billion, but a pair of civil verdicts could cause financial havoc for him, legal experts said.
Trump was slapped last month with an $83 million award in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case and faces the prospect of another verdict in the coming days that could be multiples of that — while also dismantling parts of the company his wealth comes from.
That combination "would be a devastating financial blow" and could "have a significant impact" on his wealth, said Chris Mattei, an attorney who has handled similar cases.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said Trump "built the greatest properties in the world and a tremendously successful, unparalleled business," and he called the cases against him "witch hunts."
"The unjust verdicts will be appealed, and all the hoaxes will be defeated, as President Trump did nothing wrong and the truth will prevail," Cheung said.
Here's a look at the fast-approaching financial tsunami Trump faces.
How much does Trump owe Carroll?
Trump was hit with an $83.3 million verdict on Jan. 26 for repeatedly defaming Carroll and has said he plans to appeal as soon as possible. He's already appealing a $5 million verdict Carroll won against him last year for sexual abuse and defamation.
Will Trump have to pay while he appeals?
While the appeal could delay Carroll from collecting her money for years as it winds its way through the court process, it doesn't stop Trump from having to come up with that cash — and then some. Under federal court rules, civil defendants have to post security for awards while they appeal, and in New York, that includes a 9% annual interest rate.
For the $5 million award, Trump had to deposit $5.5 million into a court fund — 111% of the judgment amount.
Given the size of the new award, Trump could seek to use a bond instead of posting the full amount — but that could still be very costly because surety companies can charge up to 5% of the judgment amount. For Trump, that nonrefundable fee would be about $4 million, and he'd still have to put up a large amount in cash and collateral to secure the bond.
"Nobody is going to write Donald Trump a bond for $83 million unless the full amount is collateralized," said Ron Kuby, a veteran New York lawyer. "It would be insanity.”
How much could he owe in the New York attorney general’s civil fraud case?
When New York Attorney General Letitia James first sued Trump, his company and its top executives in 2022, she was seeking $250 million in damages for "repeated fraud" centered on Trump's financial statements. Last month, she upped the amount to $370 million. Trump and the company have denied any wrongdoing and maintain the case is politically motivated.
Judge Arthur Engoron is expected to issue his decision on how much Trump should pay in the next week or so, but he has already found that Trump and his executives have committed repeated and persistent fraud, which doesn’t bode well for team Trump.
What happens if Trump appeals?
Trump has already said he would appeal if Engoron rules against him, but if he does, he would most likely still be on the hook for the full amount.
David Slarskey, a business litigation lawyer, said that New York state court, like federal court, requires security or a bond and that given the likely size of the award, Trump will probably move to get a bond.
If James gets the full $370 million she's seeking, it could cost Trump up to an $18 million nonrefundable fee to the surety company. And with the 9% interest rate, the amount of money that would have to be put up would be in the $400 million range.
Mattei, who represented families of the victims of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in their successful defamation suit against far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, said that if Trump and his company are hit with a judgment that exceeds his ability to pay, the company "could file bankruptcy protection."
Another possibility would be to liquidate assets to raise cash, a move the AG's office would monitor to make sure he's not squirreling away assets "for his own use rather than the creditors," Mattei said.
Adam Leitman Bailey, a New York real estate attorney who has sued Trump before, said he would most likely have to put up 10% of the judgment in cash while using property as collateral for the remaining amount. "He's running for president of the United States. He's not going anywhere."
Kuby said any bond company would want full collateral for that appeal, as well. "It would be almost four times as crazy as doing it for $83 million without collateral," he said. "
From NBC News
"A judge has ordered former President Trump to pay $355 million in the New York civil fraud trial against him and his organization and bars him from running businesses in the state for three years."
From MSNBC
During this entire case, Donald Trump's Manhattan civil attorney Alina Habba (who you should know well on The New Democrat) and her team, argued that there were no victims in this case. As well as calling it a witch hunt. But as Judge Arthur Engoron ruled today:
"There is overwhelming evidence from both interested and non-interested witnesses, corroborated by documentary evidence, that the buck for being truthful in the supporting data valuations stopped with the Trump Organization, not the accountants," he wrote.
The judge also cited the lack of remorse by Trump and his executives after the fraud was discovered as showing the need for a monitor.
"Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological. They are accused only of inflating asset values to make more money. The documents prove this over and over again. This is a venial sin, not a mortal sin. Defendants did not commit murder or arson. They did not rob a bank at gunpoint. Donald Trump is not Bernard Madoff. Yet, defendants are incapable of admitting the error of their ways," Engoron wrote.
"Defendants’ refusal to admit error — indeed, to continue it, according to the Independent Monitor — constrains this Court to conclude that they will engage in it going forward unless judicially restrained," he added."
Judge Engoron makes the whole point for the prosecution here. Donald Trump benefited from cheaper loans to do business in New York City, by inflating the assets of his Trump Organization, as well as his own personal properties. And as a result, got cheaper loans to do business in this city, that businesspeople and companies in NYC, simply weren't able to obtain, because they played by the rules.
And the Judge is essentially ordering Donald Trump to pay back all the money that he would've had to pay in the first place, had he simply obeyed the laws of New York City and New York State.
No comments:
Post a Comment
All relevant comments about the posts you are commenting on are welcome but spam and personal comments are not.