A police officer stands guard in Trump Tower in Manhattan in March 2023. AMANDA PEROBELLI (Portal)
New York's tough anti-fraud laws, in place for more than six decades, have reached Donald Trump in what has been a tumultuous week from a legal perspective for the Republican. A day after March 25 was confirmed as the start of the first criminal trial against a former US president in the Stormy Daniels case, the favorite candidate for the Republican nomination for the November presidential election was ordered this Friday to pay 354.9% million dollars (around 330 million euros) for exaggerating his net worth in order to obtain cheap loans, a crime for which he was already convicted in September. The list of inflated assets includes his apartment in Trump Tower in Manhattan, his Mar-a-Lago estate and several golf courses, among others.
Although the New York case was only a civil case, unlike the four criminal charges against him, Trump's reputation as a successful businessman – his main claim when he ventured into politics – was seriously undermined by his interests: the ban, to run a company in New York, the headquarters of his empire, for three years.
The decision by Judge Arthur Engoron, who had already ruled last September that Trump and the other defendants had committed fraud – now it was only a matter of knowing the fine – is in line with expectations. The New York Attorney General, Democrat Letitia James, had requested a sanction of $370 million, $168 million of which corresponds to what Trump saved on loans by increasing their value, i.e. the additional interest that lenders charged no longer received. In addition to the fine, James wanted to ban Trump's activities in the New York real estate industry and severely limit his business opportunities in the state. A five-year suspension was also requested for Trump's two adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, who were also charged. The judge gave them two.
The sanction represents a not insignificant amount even for the private assets of Trump, who was ordered to pay a total of 88 million in another civil lawsuit for sexual abuse of columnist E. Jean Carroll (five million) and defamation (83 million). In a matter of minutes alone, the political action committees (PACs) that formulate their campaign spent about $50 million in donations last year.
Throughout the trial, Judge Engoron was skeptical of the former president's claims – despite being insulted by him on several occasions – and sympathetic to prosecutor James's arguments. In addition to being fined for exaggerating his net worth by as much as $3.6 billion over a decade, James asked the judge, who made his own decision – there was no jury to set the fine – to agree to Trump and the rest of the defendants, including him ban His two eldest sons run every business in the state. The former president's lawyers tried several times, unsuccessfully, to derail the case.
In a social media post, Trump once dismissed the attorney general's allegations by writing in his usual angry all caps: “I AM WORTH MUCH MORE THAN THE NUMBERS THAT APPEAR ON MY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.” The tycoon has always maintained that his Lenders are not victims because they make money from their dealings with him. As in the other ongoing trials, the Republican presented himself as the victim of a political witch hunt by the Democrats to torpedo his election prospects.
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While awaiting Engoron's verdict, which includes six other lawsuits, including those for conspiracy and falsification of business records, new irregularities in the family business Trump Organization emerged a few weeks ago thanks to an external audit commissioned by Engoron 2022. The task of closing the accounts Oversight fell to a former federal judge, and her report highlighted several paperwork problems at a family business trying to shake off a hint of sloppiness: missing bank statements, typos, errors in math and questions about a $48 million loan between Trump and one of the companies in the family empire. According to the auditor's statement to the judge, the problems “may reflect a lack of adequate internal controls.” The results of that audit were rejected by Trump's lawyers, saying they had “acted in bad faith.”
To put the Trump Organization's fraud in context, the AP agency reviewed nearly 150 cases reported since New York's “repeated fraud” law was passed in 1956. The evaluation showed that in almost all cases losses and casualties were the deciding factor. Customers who fell victim to fraud had lost money, purchased defective products, or never received the services they requested. In addition, the companies examined almost always intervened as a last resort to stop an ongoing fraud and prevent new victims. The most notorious scams, according to the AP investigation, included a fake psychologist who sold dubious treatments, a fake lawyer who promised students a spot in law school, and businessmen who marketed financial advice but were actually defrauding people of their homes . In short, hair growth salesmen whose profile does not fundamentally match the character of Trump, who brags about his business excellence on the reality TV show “The Apprentice,” which served as his springboard to the White House in 2016.
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