While running as a Democrat for Attorney General of the State of New York, Letitia James referred to Donald Trump as a “con man” and ″carnival barker” and vowed to shine a “bright light into every dark corner of his real estate dealings.” Pledging to use state power against an individual citizen in order to win elections is usually reserved to candidates in third world banana republics, but such is the state of the law in the State of New York.
Last week, New York Justice Arthur Engoron conspired with now Attorney General James in her civil fraud lawsuit against Trump and his business by issuing his final decision against the former president for defrauding banks and insurance companies by inflating the value of his real estate assets in order to receive more favorable loans. All supposedly in violation of New York Executive Law § 63(12) which allows the Attorney General to seek a court order to end fraudulent business activity, and direct restitution and damages, among other things.
The judge has ordered Trump and his associates to pay nearly a half a billion dollars in fines and penalties, and has banned Trump from conducting business in the state for three years. The judge also placed Trump’s business under the control of an independent monitor, but did not dissolve the firm’s business certificates.
In reaching his conclusion the judge did not require the state to show the traditional legal elements of fraud – intent to defraud, false statements, reasonable reliance by the victims on those statements, the materiality of the fraud, causation, and damages. Justice Engoron required only that the Attorney General prove by a preponderance of the evidence the “falsity” of Trump’s statements to the banks and insurers, while the judge presumed the damages were done to the “fairness” of the “marketplace.” Whether this watered-down application of the law is sustained on appeal remains to be seen.
Never mind that the bank executives in question testified that they were paid back in full and with interest, that they conducted an independent assessment of Trump’s assets and did not solely rely on Trump’s statements when making the loans, and that banks and insurance companies are among the most sophisticated and resourced entities in any commercial transaction. In other words, the banks made money in an arm’s length transaction they were fully informed on. In that context, the court’s $355 million fine aimed directly at Trump has no basis in any economic calculation and is vindictive to the point it likely violates the Excessive Fines Clause under the 8th Amendment to the Constitution.
Meanwhile, in Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fanni Willis was cross examined in court last week during a hearing over her failing to disclose an extra marital affair with a married man, Nathan Wade. Wade happens to be the man Willis appointed as a special prosecutor in the criminal racketeering case in which Trump and others are charged with trying to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. Trump and his co-defendants are seeking to have Willis and her lover thrown off the case.
Central to the proceedings is whether Willis began the affair before she appointed Wade and if she repaid him for lavish trips he took her on subsequent to the appointment. Willis’s office has paid Wade and his law firm over $650 thousand in legal fees thus far, even though Wade has very limited experience in prosecuting such complex criminal cases, and there are qualified attorneys on Willis’s regular staff. Willis testified she paid Wade back for the vacations they took together in cash, but produced no evidence to support her contention.
Willis and Wade also testified that the affair began after Wade’s appointment, but Willis’s good friend, Robin Yearti, swore it began beforehand, which raises questions as to whether Willis lied under oath, a crime. The judge will render a decision on whether to remove Willis and Wade in the coming days or weeks, while the Georgia Senate investigates the broader allegations of misconduct, including the additional allegation made by her staff that Willis has misused campaign funds.
What took place in New York and Georgia last week is illustrative of precisely what the U.S. State Department has, over the decades, rightfully criticized authoritarian regimes around the world for doing to political opponents and dissidents. The New York ruling has sent shockwaves through the business community there, since they know if this can be done to Trump it can be done to any business that falls into disfavor with the political powers that be. As for Georgia, the recent escapades have shown that the Fulton County District Attorney’s office is a clown show at a circus. Being kicked off the Trump case may be the least of Fanni Willis’s worries, as she may yet end up out of a job or worse behind bars before it’s all over.
$5,000,000 + $83,300,000 +$355,000,000 + $100,000,000 is serious money. Heck the interest is building at $87,500 per day. What bond company or bank would want to put that up? Those bonds come with major fees as the companies are in it to make a profit plus make sure they get their money back. Trump has only himself to blame. Try to spin all you want but the years of being able to avoid prosecution are gone. Next month his criminal trial will start. So keep donating as we know his legal fees for last year and this year exceed $63,000,000.
At $399 per pair Trump would have to sell 1,519,000 pairs of his golden sneakers. I don’t think that will happen in less than 30 days. If you don’t know why 30 days, then do some research about applying for an appeal in a New York civil suit.
So WHAT was the crime……besides being a political enemy of the communist left in America? Who was harmed? How were they harmed? The communists have taken control of our justice system to use against political enemies. America now looks like the old USSR in the 1960’s. Political enemies there were tried, convicted, jailed and often executed. I guess we ought to be glad that Trump is still alive after dealing with this filthy crowd. They have a day of reckoning coming I hope.
What do government hacks such a James and Willis have in common? They derive their incomes off the taxpayers while working their grift in the public sector. They have never created, built or developed anything of value but instead erect barriers and issue threats against those in the private sector who do. It’s classic socialism/Marxism/communism vs. capitalism/free enterprise/ entrepreneurship.
It’s not new having been pointed out by Ayn Rand decades ago, but the Left has now infiltrated every institution particularly the “educational” system so they’re emboldened. Maybe it’s time for the producers to move to Atlantis while the parasites in government continue to ruin every city they control?