Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy
No. of Recommendations: 5
The appeals court gave Trump 10 more days to post the bond in the fraud case, and ALSO reduced the amount he has to post to $175. <sigh>
From
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-hush-...The order from the New York appeals court Monday means that former President Donald Trump and his sons can still run a business in New York and obtain loans from New York financial institutions for the moment.
The appeals court's order gives Trump 10 more days to post his bond to satisfy the civil fraud judgement and cut the amount necessary to $175 million.
Judge Arthur Engoron's court-ordered monitor and the appointment of a compliance director for Trump's company will remain in place, however.
No. of Recommendations: 6
Absolute BS.
WTH
No. of Recommendations: 1
You beat me to it...
I'm sure this is legal since Judge Cannon isn't presiding, but I doubt any of us on this board would be given similar leniency.
No. of Recommendations: 11
I'm sure this is legal...
This is another example of the truism
It isn't what's illegal that's the crime, it's what is LEGAL...
This is wrong on so many fronts...
The trial judge didn't make up the damage numbers. He "showed the math" and extrapolated the exaggerated asset valuations against likely interest rate premiums someone with LESS collateral would have to pay on such outsized loans over the course of 6-10 years and $383 million was a very reasonable number.
Evidence provided in the trial supplied numerous examples of Trump's extreme spite of basic accounting and lack of remorse, making the additional damages tacked on to yield the $454 million dollar final judgement more than justified.
Trump knew the initial target of $383 million when the lawsuit was filed. That was his first warning shot. Trump's own legal team failed to file the paperwork to request a jury trial, lowering the chance one or two MAGA fanatics could block a jury verdict protecting him. That was his second warning shot. The case wrapped very quickly and he LOST and the court spent MONTHS trying to resolve the AMOUNT of the final verdict. That was his final warning shot to begin raising cash. When the final $454 million judgment came down, he still had THIRTY DAYS to find the money -- either to PAY it and shut up or use it to allow appeal and he STILL could not find the money.
Evidence provided in the trial clearly demonstrated the chuckleheads actively participated in this pattern of fraud the entire time and ran the show for four years while Trump played President. Why should they NOT remain barred from operating companies in New York? What's the legal rationale for THAT decision. They lied for years on state tax paperwork. They lied in court about their level of participation. They may not have the money for their multi-million dollar penalties either. So why does that justify the appeals court tossing a portion of the "sentence" they CAN "serve" that protects the public from them operating similar frauds for at least a few years?
It's clear at this point, he doesn't have the $454 million and I doubt he has enough to cough up $175 million or even a percentage of that as a bond. So why is that the public's problem? Why the forebearance? Why the lowered amount? Why the extra 30 days? Has he been a model citizen during this process? No, he has triggered death threats against the prosecutors, the judge and even the judge's clerk.
The only thing this decision does is defer recognition of reality by the larger public. Had the appeals court rejected his request and left the original amount required for appeal standing on the original due date, it would have allowed the same collection mechanisms to begin that would face any other citizen in the identical scenario and would have begun triggering the larger public to realize Trump is NOT the multi-billionaire he has claimed to be for forty years and whatever assets he DOES have have been wrung from forty years of fraud and criminal behavior.
Instead, that reckoning is again put on hold as the country inches towards an election amid a world closer to chaos than it has been in eighty years.
WTH
No. of Recommendations: 3
“President Trump responded to the appellate court’s ruling.
Judge Engoron has refused to obey the decision of the Appellate Division relative to the Statute of Limitations. This is a confrontation between a Judge and those that rule above him – A very bad situation in which to place New York State and the Rule of Law! Engoron has disrespected the Appellate Division and its very clear and precise ruling. He should be made to do so, and at the same time, release the GAG ORDER. This is the 5th time in this case that he has been overturned, a record. His credibility, and that of Letitia James, has been shattered. We will abide by the decision of the Appellate Division, and post either a bond, equivalent securities, or cash. This also shows how ridiculous and outrageous Engoron’s original decision was at $450 Million. I DID NOTHING WRONG, AND NEW YORK SHOULD NEVER BE PUT IN A POSITION LIKE THIS AGAIN. BUSINESSES ARE FLEEING, VIOLENT CRIME IS FLOURISHING, AND IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT THIS BE RESOLVED IN ITS TOTALITY AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. THANK YOU!” Trump said in a Truth Social post.”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/03/breaking-...😊
No. of Recommendations: 3
And once again proving that our justice system treats the rich and powerful very differently.
No. of Recommendations: 2
“And once again proving that our justice system treats the rich and powerful very differently.”
Yep, just like Crime Boss Biden and his bagman son Hunter.
No. of Recommendations: 2
And once again proving that our justice system treats the rich and powerful very differently.And there's not even any reason given in the two page ruling for why the bond was reduced at all, let alone so much. That's what's frustrating a lot of the lawyers I hear in the media.
The ruling itself -
https://www.washingtonpost.com/documents/84d39bdc-...It is ordered that the motion is granted to the extent of staying enforcement of
those portions of the Judgment,
(1) ordering disgorgement to the Attorney General of
$464,576,230.62, conditioned on defendants-appellants posting, within ten (10) days of
the date of this order, an undertaking in the amount of $175 million dollars;
(2) permanently barring defendants Weisselberg and McConney from serving in the
financial control function of any New York corporation or similar business entity;
(3) barring defendants Donald J. Trump, Weisselberg and McConney from serving as an
officer or director of any New York corporation for three years;
(4) barring defendant Donald J. Trump and the corporate defendants from applying for loans from New York
financial institutions for three years; and
(5) barring defendants Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation in New York for two years. The aforesaid stay is conditioned on defendants-appellants
perfecting the appeals for the September 2024 Term of this Court. The motion is
otherwise denied, including to the extent it seeks a stay of enforcement of portions of the
judgment (1) extending and enhancing the role of the Monitor and (2) directing the
installation of an Independent Director of Compliance.Note that those 5 items have been
stayed not entirely eliminated.
No. of Recommendations: 4
over decades and hundreds of cases, trump has a singular talent for delays. he has notched another victory, and is still not out a dime.
but unlike his decades of grinding down a desperate opponent unable to afford litigation, there will be eventually be a win or loss here.
ok, why the kindness here on the bail amount, +10 days ?
going through the recent forbes series, it seems obvious the state of NY simply does not want to be in the business of seizing and operating Real Estate for a sale. (more on this below)
the bail reduction makes it more likely trump has that much cash, or a Chubb-like situation where some party can provide the entire amount to any insurer willing to be the frontman but have no actual financial risk.
the real estate has 2 buckets, and it seems that many years would be required to wring out +$0.5B in a NORMAL non-distressed scenario.
A. his big money is in CRE, and this sector is suffering from vacancies, increased floating rate interest, increased operating expenses, and re-set ground leases.
trump's collection is no exception, other than to the high degree of some of these issues. not to mention a trump-branded discount now expected in NYC.
B. golf courses and residential : simply stated, these will not add up to enough. however, the saudis with LIV golf and a sports-washing goal, may be willing to grossly overpay, and in cash.
trump's ego will not allow him to put most of these up for sale until an irrevocable final decision, and by then they are distressed sales for an economic buyer.
No. of Recommendations: 11
It seems obvious the state of NY simply does not want to be in the business of seizing and operating Real Estate for a sale.
And there's the rub about relying on CIVIL penalties against high dollar fraudsters. Since actual jail time is not in the cards for a penalty, civil cases rely upon purely financial punishments to - ahem -- encourage a change in behavior of losing defendants. If the defendant is someone who has mastered the art of living on debt and literally controls NOTHING that can be immediately converted into cash, it poses a huge dilemma for the state.
If the state's emphasis is on actually HURTING the defendent, it can choose to simply confiscate what little the defendant owns in the clear, regardless of the nature of that asset, then try to sell it as soon as possible to extract cash. If everything the defendant owns in the clear are cumberson assets like golf course and commercial buildings which are already in a slump, taking those assets shifts the onus of OPERATING them until sale upon the government and all the risks that come with that. If you confiscate a hotel then a guest drowns in the pool, the GOVERNMENT is now subject to lawsuits that would have normally been shouldered by the defendant. If you take possession of an office building amid a real estate downturn and attempt to unload, you could lose another 20-30% by forcing a sale rather than waiting for a better window or a better fit with a buyer.
If the state's emphasis is on actually collecting restitution from the defendant, options are extremely limited. That's the case here. As mentioned in prior threads, I'm at the point where Trump's "wholly owned" to "any stake" ratio of his properties is probably less than 20% and from a dollar value standpoint, I am guessing that ratio is closer to 5-10 percent. (Meaning, if Trump says he "owns" 100 assets, the number of assets where HE is the 100% owner in complete control of the asset is less than 20. Meaning, if the total dollar value of all 100 of those assets is $4 billion, the value of the shares of those assets actually OWNED by Trump is probably 5% of that $4 billion, or $200 million.) And since he is not even the majority owner of the bigger properties, he is not in a position to force the sale so he can cash out his minority share, nor does he have any leverage on the majority owners to get them to buy him out to free up his cash.
In other words, this is another teachable moment for the little people in America to drive home the point that if you owe a little money, the world owns you. If you owe GOBS of money, you own the world as long as there's someone dumb enough to keep lending you money to make minimum payments or as long as someone else made big enough mistakes lending to you that they want to defer that reckoning more than you do and will do anything to keep you afloat.
At this point, at a minimum, I think New York State should confiscate his 757 and park it somewhere prominently at LaGuardia so everyone visiting NYC can get a reminder that the big shot isn't quite so big. Then let's carefully track who pays for his private jet travel and how he discloses so we know who will be bankrolling the rest of this charade.
WTH
