Reuters
NEW YORK, Sept 26 (Reuters) - A New York judge found Donald Trump and his family business fraudulently inflated the value of his properties and other assets, in a major defeat for the former U.S. president that could severely restrict his ability to do business in the state.

The scathing decision by Justice Arthur Engoron of the New York state court in Manhattan will make it easier for state Attorney General Letitia James to establish damages at a scheduled Oct. 2 trial.

Engoron also ordered the cancellation of business certificates for the Trump Organization and other corporate defendants, and ordered the appointment of a receiver to manage their dissolution.

The judge described how Trump, his adult sons Donald Jr. and Eric, the Trump Organization and other defendants made up valuations and inflated Trump's net worth to suit their business needs.

"That is a fantasy world, not the real world," Engoron wrote.

The judge also sanctioned the defendants' lawyers for making "preposterous" legal arguments and fueling their clients' "obstreperous" conduct.

Lawyers for Trump and the other defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump, who holds a commanding lead in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has denied all wrongdoing, and attacked James' case and other litigation against him as part of a politically-motivated "witch hunt."

James sued Trump in Sept. 2022, accusing him, his adult children and the Trump Organization of lying for a decade about asset values and his net worth to defraud banks and insurers into providing better terms.

The attorney general has said Trump inflated his net worth by as much as $2.23 billion, and by one measure as much as $3.6 billion, on annual financial statements.

Engoron said James had established liability for false valuations of several properties including Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, his penthouse apartment in Manhattan's Trump Tower, and various office buildings and golf courses.

He took particular issue with Trump's claim that the penthouse was 30,000 square feet, nearly three times its actual size, resulting in an overvaluation of as much as $207 million.

"A discrepancy of this order of magnitude, by a real estate developer sizing up his own living space of decades, can only be considered fraud," Engoron wrote.

The judge also chided Trump for offering defenses in a deposition that were "wholly without basis," legally and factually.

"He claims that if the values of the property have gone up in the years since the (financial statements) were submitted, then the numbers were not inflated at that time," Engoron wrote.

"He also seems to imply that the numbers cannot be inflated because he could find a 'buyer from Saudi Arabia' to pay any price he suggests."

Engoron ruled three months after a state appeals court said some of James' claims were too old because statutes of limitations had expired in either July 2014 or February 2016.

He rejected Trump's argument that the decision essentially gutted James' lawsuit, which James has said reflected a series of "continuing wrongs" that she could prove at trial.

The appeals court dismissed one defendant, Trump's daughter Ivanka, from the case.

Trump also faces a slew of other litigation.

He has pleaded not guilty to charges in four indictments accusing him of trying to overturn his 2020 election, hoarding classified materials, and covering up hush money payments to a porn star.

Trump also faces a January civil trial over damages he owes for defaming a writer who claimed he raped her.

Engoron's decision does not automatically mean the trial will begin next Monday.

Trump has sued to delay the trial, accusing Engoron and James of ignoring the appeals court order to narrow the case.

He and the other defendants have said this made it impossible to prepare for trial because they did not know which claims they would have to defend against.

The appeals court is expected to rule on that request this week.



Unless overturned on Appeal, the only issue at trial will be how much in money damages/penalties will be required to be paid on the allegations ruled on in the Partial Summary Judgement. And, this is going to be, I think, a Bench Trial (almost certainly requested/agreed to by Trump), which means there is no jury to determine the facts. The judge does that in a BT, which doesn't bode well for the Defendants here. Judge also Ordered dissolution and the appointment of a Receiver (basically involuntary bankruptcy) of many of the defendants' business in the State of New York, which in and of itself is a very difficult penalty to overcome. Here is the PSJ Order:

https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23991876/trump-ny-fraud-ruling.pdf 

Now we know why NYC has started to resemble Escape from New York, the State AG has been focused on somebody saying his property isn’t as big as he claims. Woohoo! Keep letting the violent criminals run around committing crimes when they should be imprisoned, but make sure you bury the evil orange man in litigation.

Rhetorical Question: Do you truly believe anyone in this country would walk away unscathed if he/she profited by committing multiple, repetitive, ongoing, progressive, civil (not criminal here) financial fraud to the tune of hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars, over many, many years?

Joe Biden

We will see.
We will also sew the relative magnitude (if he is found guilty) of any money involved.

It must confuse and consternat you that Putin is committing war crimes yet your local police are still issuing traffic tickets.

Of course the MAGA Right admires a leader who does criminal sh1t.

But they will join in to sing the song of his innocence and wrongful prosecution.

Hell - Z already got a "look over there!" in.
Good boy!

I like how the judge found him guilty and now we can start the trial.

Kangaroo court....

It's a witch hunt....

Boo Hoo for the angry orange Mengggg'....

Trump understands nothing except DELAY DELAY AND
MORE DELAY.....

"dONT ASK FOR WHOm tHe bEll tOlls...orange meng'....
It tolls for thee".... And your two duuuupit sons....

The only thing trump hates in life???
Is paying for fines and criminal prosecution....
Smack down on both of those just happened...

Its called a partial summary judgement, which if granted ends some b.s/crap issues/arguments as ordered- to tidy up before trial or get the case dismissed. Very common tool in litigation.

Trump's lawyers and NY lawyers agreed that the facts were undisputed. Trump's attorneys filed for one too in the exact same way, but it was denied. Trump's attorneys were fined by the court and will be reported to their bars for making false and/or misleading statements/arguments.

He can appeal it all the way to the state's highest court. My bet is that it moves through appeals relatively fast. The appellate court will either affirm or deny without much explanation and it will quickly be heard by NY's highest court (oddly not called the supreme court of NY).

Here is a link to the Opinion. I read the whole thing. It explains why each and every reason defense that was struck/disallowed (and why other's weren't):


https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23991865-trump-ny-fraud-ruling 

Is there even ANY FREAKIN DOUBT AT ALL???

THAT THE ORANGE MENGGGG WONT APPEAL, AND APPEAL AND APPEAL AND DELAY DELAY AND DELAY...

IT IS HIS "Written in stone MANTRA"....

THE ORANGE MENG hAs never lost using these tactics....

I think this time he will.in this case...and on a few others he has coming due very soon...like in weeks or a few months at most....

It's time for the ORANGE 🍊 🍊 🍊 MENG' TO
PAY THE P.I.P.E.R. 🗣️🗣️🗣️🎷🎷🎷🎷🎷🎷🎷🎷🎷

Wow - they are going after him for $250 million.
That's a lot of coin from his supporters.

Looks like he'll be kick out of Trump Tower too - bummer 🤦

Asset forfeiture now!

(They still may have to assassinate him to stop him from running for President)

If he does, he's going to win again.

I heard the crazy old crooked fug called for a hit on da Trump and the MAGA people the other day. He hates the slogan "Make America Great Again", those words are anti-Bidenomics.

"There's something dangerous happening in America now. There's an extremist movement that does not share the basic beliefs of our democracy: the MAGA movement. Not every Republican, not even a majority of Republicans, adheres to the MAGA extremist ideology. I know this because I've been able to work with Republicans my whole career," Biden said

"My friends, they're not hiding their attacks. They're openly promoting them, attacking the free press as the enemy of the people, attacking the rule of law as an impediment, formatting voter suppression and elections subversion."

He even accused MAGA of banning books and burying history.

Donald Trump’s Fraud Trial in New York

Is this a case about inflated asset values or partisan politics? Yes.


WSJ Editorial Board
New York’s civil fraud trial against Donald Trump and his business empire started Monday in a Manhattan courtroom, and the great shame is that he and state Attorney General Letitia James can’t both lose. In comments at the courthouse, Mr. Trump called it a “witch hunt,” and he has a point. Yet the investigation also seems to have caught some typical Trumpian deception.

Judge Arthur Engoron granted partial summary judgment to the state last week, ruling that Mr. Trump presented grossly inflated financial figures to lenders. This is “not a matter of rounding errors or reasonable experts disagreeing,” he wrote. Mr. Trump’s famed triplex residence in Trump Tower is 10,996 square feet, but he repeatedly claimed 30,000 square feet.

“Defendants absurdly suggest that ‘the calculation of square footage is a subjective process that could lead to differing results,’” the judge added. “Well yes, perhaps, if the area is rounded or oddly shaped,” but “good-faith measurements could vary by as much as 10-20%, not 200%. A discrepancy of this order of magnitude, by a real estate developer sizing up his own living space of decades, can only be considered fraud.”

The ruling goes on for pages like this: Despite four appraisals pegging his Seven Springs estate at $30 million or less, Mr. Trump claimed it was worth $261 million. He valued apartments in New York as if their rents weren’t regulated. His figures for several golf clubs “included a 15% or 30% ‘premium’ based on the ‘Trump brand,’” according to the judge, even while lenders were told no such premium was added.

Judge Engoron acknowledged that this asset puffery doesn’t seem to have created losses for the creditors: “Defendants correctly assert that ‘the record is devoid of any evidence of default, breach, late payment, or any complaint of harm.’” The judge said, however, that legally speaking this is “completely irrelevant.” Whether he is correct under New York law is a possible subject of appeal.

Perhaps the state will argue that the lenders might have demanded better terms if they’d seen accurate information. New York is the nation’s financial capital and has an interest in stopping deceit in the marketplace.

But the lenders weren’t naifs and had to know Mr. Trump’s penchant for lying. Mr. Trump appears to believe he could claim anything, as long as he tacked on a disclaimer. “They call it ‘worthless clause,’” he said in a deposition, “because it makes the statement ‘worthless.’”

Yet Mr. Trump is right that Ms. James is a partisan Democrat who campaigned on going after him. The night she won the AG’s race in November 2018, she proclaimed: “I will be shining a bright light into every dark corner of his real estate dealings.” This is an abuse of prosecutorial power, targeting a person and then hunting for something to charge him with.

There is also cause to wonder about Judge Engoron’s sweeping judgment when there are no clear victims. The judge’s pretrial ruling last week would essentially strip Mr. Trump of control over assets in New York, including Trump Tower. Ms. James wants to ban him from doing business in New York. It’s hard to believe anyone not named Trump, and not so loathed by Democrats, would be facing such a sanction.

Mr. Trump showed up in court Monday for a reason, using every opportunity to portray himself as a political victim. His claim will resonate with many because of Ms. James’s targeting and Judge Engoron’s caustic opinion. If Democrats hope all of this will keep Mr. Trump from the White House, they may discover they are helping him win the GOP nomination to face a weak and unpopular President Biden.

The picture of ORANGE MENG IN COURT yesterday was
" very telling"...he looked B.E.A.T.E.N. AND SCARED LITTLE TIT MOUSE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS LIFE...

AND for the first time in his life?
He will loose...he will loose..he will loose...
And he absolutely KNOWS IT !!!

( IN HIS Defense...I don't think the "guilty orange meng' "
Is getting much sleep lately...
Dreams of loosing trump towers and every other NY STATE BASED BUSINESS OF HIS INTO RECIEVERSHIP AND PAYING $250 MILLION IN FINES ( which is at least all of his liquid cash reserves and hard c**k right up his fat keister")....

By the time of his January 6 trial he will be weeping like a little girl on her "first FLOW DAY"....BECAUSE GEORGIA IS GONNA FIND Eeeeeeemmmmm' G.U.I.L.T.Y. TOO !!!

IT WILL BE T.R.E.E. STRIKES AND THE BALL GAME IS

O
V
E
R

FOR

THE

ORANGE 🍊🍊 🍊 / TREE STRIKES ⚾⚾⚾❎❎❎☑️☑️☑️

MENG'''

My Summary of what you wrote: Yes.

Does Charles Keating ring a bell?

I heard this is a show trial where Engoron is judge, jury and executioner.

Letitia James is a Demo-Commie that will say and do anything to pillage the wicked bourgeoisie and further her own political ambitions. She doesn't care who she hurts along the way, even the proletariat who she says she is fighting for (BIG LIE), and will steamroll anyone that gets in her way.