With Donald Trump already facing four criminal indictments across the three jurisdictions, it might seem hard to believe that his legal predicaments could get even more serious. But there’s a pending civil case that poses a dramatic threat to the former president, his business, and his finances.
The Associated Press reported on a major development in a closely watched case in New York.
A judge has ruled that Donald Trump committed fraud for years while building the real estate empire that catapulted him to fame and the White House. Judge Arthur Engoron, ruling Tuesday in a civil lawsuit brought by New York’s attorney general, found that the former president and his company deceived banks, insurers and others by massively overvaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth on paperwork used in making deals and securing financing.
The full, 35-page ruling is available online here.
In case anyone needs a refresher, it was exactly a year ago this week when New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a sweeping lawsuit against the former president and the Trump Organization. The civil case was rather devastating: The state attorney general’s office, pointing to more than 200 instances of fraud over 10 years, announced that it was seeking roughly $250 million in civil penalties.
As a New York Times report explained, that case is still ongoing, but James’ office has won “a major victory” now that a judge has concluded that Trump did, in fact, fraudulently inflate the value of his assets “to obtain favorable loans and insurance deals.”
What this latest ruling indicates is that the evidence was so clear that a trial isn’t necessary to prove the underlying claim about Trump defrauding lenders. The judge agreed that James’ argument about Trump’s financial misconduct was true, and elements of the defense from the former president were ultimately “preposterous.”
The AP’s report added that Engoron “ordered that some of Trump’s business licenses be rescinded as punishment, making it difficult or impossible for them to do business in New York, and said he would continue to have an independent monitor oversee the Trump Organization’s operations.”
Joyce Vance, a former federal prosecutor and an MSNBC legal analyst, responded via social media, “This is New York’s corporate death penalty, applied to Trump because of years of misconduct.”
The former president has not yet issued a written response to the developments, though if recent history is any guide, a hysterical, all-caps tirade appears inevitable.
