Read the full ruling here. Man, it’s ugly. A lot of words that you NEVER want to see from a judge. Best part is page 35 where the judge strips Trump’s businesses in NY of their licenses to do business, then, he schedules the appointment of receivers to evaluate Trump’s property and sell it off.
Donald Trump’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad 2023 just got a lot worse. Next week, he’s slated to face a civil suit brought by state attorney general Letitia James alleging Trump and his real estate company fraudulently inflated their assets by. On Tuesday afternoon, a New York judgeissued findings of factthat found Trump had indeed inflated the value of his assets. More seriously, the judge effectively stripped Trump of nearly all of his authority over his beloved real estate empire.
Former President Donald Trump, his top executives, and heirs were declared completely liable of “persistent and repeated fraud”—and the real estate empire was unceremoniously stripped of its business licenses in New York—after a judge’s powerful ruling Tuesday ahead of a massive trial that seeks to hit them with more than $250 million in penalties for bank fraud.
And in a stunning development, the judge has already ordered the complete dissolution of the fabled Trump Organization–the tycoon’s pride and joy, the empire that made him famous and elevated him into the White House. The Trump Organization and its sister companies will be sent into receivership to be under the control of a court-appointed officer.
In so doing, New York judge Arthur Engoron granted James request for a partial summary judgment. This move will make it a lot easier for James to pursue her goal of not only making Trump and his sons cough up over $250 million in fines, but strip them of the remains of the Trump Organization.
Engoron’s ruling contains language that no one wants to see from a judge.
In his 35-page opinion, Justice Arthur F. Engoron tore apart what he called the Trump family’s “bogus arguments” and obstreperous conduct. And he summed up the entire defense as “a fantasy world, not the real world.”
“In defendants’ world: rent regulated apartments are worth the same as unregulated apartments; restricted land is worth the same as unrestricted land, restricts can evaporate into thin air… all illegal acts are untimely if they stem from one untimely act; and square footage [is] subjective,” he wrote.
(…)
On Tuesday, Engoron ripped the Trumps—and their lawyers—apart for dragging this on so long with legal arguments that wasted the courts time by repeatedly questioning whether the AG even had the authority to hold them accountable this way.
Those arguments “glaringly misrepresent” the law and trying them again and again “invoke the time-loop in the film ‘Groundhog Day,’” the judge wrote, calling attempts to topple the case this way “pure sophistry.”
As the lawyers here know, when a judge says your arguments exist in “a fantasy world” and are based on “pure sophistry,” he’s not just saying you’re wrong. He’s saying you have no case at all.
Trump still has a chance to delay or defang the case by suing Engeron. However, if an appeals court rules against him later this week, Trump will face a really steep hill to climb at trial. After all, Engeron, not a jury, will determine whether the Trumps will not only face whopping fines, but also be barred from serving as officers or directors and be stripped of their corporate charters.
Engeron has already made it clear that he isn’t happy with Trump. In the same ruling, he tore Trump a new one for not allowing a court-appointed independent monitor to properly do her job. The monitor, a retired federal judge, had been tasked with making sure Trump didn’t improperly shift assets. Despite that, Engeron wrote that he found evidence of “false and misleading information while conducting business.” He also slapped Trump’s lawyers with $7,500 each in sanctions for making frivolous arguments.
So for the second time this year, a Black female prosecutor may be poised to cut Trump down to size. Remember, for almost as long as James has pursued Trump, Fulton County, Georgia DA Fani Willis has been building up a devastating case against Trump for his attempts to steal Georgia from Joe Biden. While Willis has amassed enough evidence to potentially put Trump in prison for life, James may be poised to land a devastating blow to Trump’s checkbook.
Let’s put this is simple, straightforward terms: Trump’s businesses in NY — which are the businesses the generate the money he uses to buy groceries — are finished.
All of Trump’s certificates of operation or incorporation in the State of New York are cancelled immediately by this fraud conviction.
Any entity in NY controlled or operated by Donald Trump, his two sons, or Allen Weisselberg is effectively out of business. Trump has over 700 different companies* in NY, many with their own subdivisions.
In addition, the Trump trust which hold most of his assets which he uses to conduct business is finished. So is the Trump Organization his father gave him. It’s over and done.
All of his holding companies there are finished, including his building management companies, and his liability companies which hold title to his buildings, like 40 Wall Street and Seven Springs.
Trump has 10 days to name three independent receivers who can oversee the dissolution of existing NY incorporated and LLCs companies in Trumps’ name, including the Trump Organization.
The case likely won’t go to trial right away, due to an almost certain ask and appeal by the Trump team for a stay before taking it to a 5-member appeals court.
But this is a pretty solid case and this should all come to pass in the end. The trial phase will be where the judge will determine the amount left to be allocated away from the four defendants. For now, absolutely no business in New York for Trump – the home of his most lucrative assets.
