Donald Trump was ordered to pay a fine of $355 million and was barred from doing business in New York State for three years. Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to pay essentially all of his cash reserves of $400 million, a fine that, if upheld, would force Trump to sell some of his real estate holdings to raise money to live on. Once interest is added, the total fine will rise to $450 million. All of this is on top of the $83.3 million fine Trump must pay for allegedly defaming writer E. Jean Carroll. The overall fines could deprive Trump of between 11% and 13% of his wealth. Trump’s adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, were also fined and barred from doing business in New York State for two years. Ivanka or Melania Trump could legally run Trump’s businesses for the next two years, but Judge Engoron appointed retired District Judge Barbara Jones to continue in her role as an “independent monitor” of Trump’s business empire, but expanded its authority to review financial information. Before are subjected to third parties. Judge Jones can hire an independent compliance director and has the authority to force Trump to sell some or even all of his assets in the future. This is all punishment for Trump who allegedly committed fraud by falsely inflating and deflating the value of his real estate assets to pay lower state taxes and to receive more favorable loans from banks.
The New York State laws used to persecute Trump have NEVER been used this way, historically, and while Trump may have to pay some back state taxes, if Judge Engoron is right, no banks have claimed they were defrauded by Trump in the loans he had granted him. This is truly a victimless crime.
Bankers took the stand at Trump’s civil trial, testifying that they would willingly lend to Donald Trump given his extraordinary success as a businessman. It should also be noted that the banks that lent to Trump did not take his assessment of the net value of his assets at face value, but made independent assessments of the value of Trump’s assets. This is apparently standard practice in the New York State real estate market, where borrowers often overestimate the value of their assets.
The bottom line is that a penalty never before enforced in New York State has been transformed into a vehicle for a flagrantly excessive fine and, even more seriously, in the wholly inappropriate appointment of Judge Jones as an “independent monitor” capable of micromanaging the Trump’s business, which you do not have the jurisdiction to do so, nor to order the dissolution of the Trump Business in New York State. This achievement is being pursued by Letitia James, a politically ambitious Democrat who is the attorney general of New York State and who hopes to win future Democratic primaries for governor or senator of New York State.
Ms. James and Judge Engeron have essentially turned a vaguely worded New York State law into a modern-day Bill of Attainder aimed at Donald Trump both for political gain and because they despise his political views and desperately want to challenge his sincerity while running. for President of the United States in 2024. In doing so, they violated Trump’s First Amendment rights to free speech and free press; his Fifth Amendment right not to be deprived of liberty or property without due process of law; his Fifth Amendment right not to have property taken except for public use for just compensation; his Eighth Amendment right not to have to pay an excessive fine; his right, Article IV, Section 2, as a citizen of Florida, to make and enforce contracts in New York on the same terms as other New Yorkers; and his Fourteenth Amendment right to be free to engage in an occupation without unnecessary and burdensome regulation.
The civil fraud ruling against Donald Trump is a travesty and an unjust political act comparable only in American politics to the killing of former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton by Vice President Aaron Burr. If the New York State appellate courts do not reverse this ruling, the United States Supreme Court DUTY grant cert on this case and overturn Judge Engeron’s outrageous decisions. National and presidential politics will be permanently changed if a local state’s legal system can be used in this way against U.S. presidential candidates. This case raises a national issue of profound importance, and if the New York State appellate courts do not address it, the U.S. Supreme Court DUTY!