Why Trump may soon rake in a $4 billion payday despite his legal problems[/paste:font]
David. H. Moskowitz
Wed, February 21, 2024 at 5:20 AM EST·4 min read
3.4k
In a blistering 92-page opinion, New York Supreme Court Justice leaving the page." data-wf-tooltip-position="bottom" data-wf-reset-every="90" style="position: relative;">Arthur Engoron delivered an impressive tutorial to former President Donald Trump and other developers on how real estate should be evaluated in obtaining bank loans and insurance policies.It's an expensive lesson that will ultimately cost Trump many millions and will deprive him of future development and construction opportunities.There has been speculation in the news media that Trump will have either to sell assets or file bankruptcy protection to pay $453.5 million in penalties and interest that Engoron imposed on Friday.
Yet, while the decision imposes a hefty set of sanctions, I do not think it will be fatal to either Trump's finances or his business organization.
Judge Arthur Engoron presides over former President Donald Trump's civil business fraud trial at New York Supreme Court, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, in New York.
Trump has filed for bankruptcy protection before
Let’s look first at what this decision will cost Trump and his business partners. In addition to the financial penalties, the associated injunctions include business restraints on Trump and the other defendants.The earlier decision in the case, issued in September, was modified by the final judgment vacating the cancellation of business certificates and the forced sale of corporate assets. Consequently, while this is an enormously expensive lesson, it is not necessarily fatal because the defendants will not be divested of their valuable assets.
Trump has been on the edge of the cliff before. For example, Trump-owned companies operating in Atlantic City filed for Chapter 11 four times between 1991 and 2009. But none of them proved fatal to Trump’s real estate empire.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Trump has been masterful in converting his numerous litigation hurdles into opportunities for campaigning and fundraising. He portrays himself as the victim of malicious enemies rather than the perpetrator of fraudulent business activities. Most of his supporters do not believe he committed fraud.
To those of us who are not MAGA disciples, Engoron has presented a clear picture of Trump’s failure to follow good business practices, with the assistance of two of his sons, corporate officers and other enablers.
How will Trump pay his fraud penalties? Your campaign donations, of course!
Engoron offered this explanation regarding appraisals: “Yet another great red herring in this case has been that different appraisers can legitimately and in good faith appraise the same property at different amounts. True enough, as appraising is an art as well as a science. However, the science part cannot be fraudulent. When two appraisers rely on starkly different assumptions, that is not evidence of a different opinion, that is evidence of deceit.”
While the defendants obtained appraisals, they often ignored them, did not disclose them to accountants and arbitrarily decided what properties were worth. They valued several properties that had not been constructed as though they were built, and they attributed no cost to constructing them.They ignored deed restrictions that prohibited more profitable uses, such as Mar-a-Lago being a residence, which was prohibited, rather than a permitted social club, which was much less valuable.They claimed that two to three times more houses could be constructed than zoning permitted on other properties. In short, their exaggerations rose to the degree of outright fraud.
Trump or Biden? Americans aren't worried about the other guy – we're worried about either.
Trump may land a $4 billion payday
Trump, however, may again avoid disaster. CNN Business reported the day before Engoron released his decision that “Donald Trump just got the green light to return to Wall Street.”
The Securities and Exchange Commission approved a merger between Trump Media & Technology Group and Digital World Acquisition Corp., a blank-check company, which would allow the Trump media enterprise to be a publicly traded company.
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A blank-check company is a “special purpose acquisition company” formed to raise funds via an initial public offering without identifying the precise use of the funds. It is publicly traded even though it does not have an established business plan or a designated potential merger opportunity.
Trump’s stake in this merger could be worth $4 billion. That is enough capital to pay all the civil liability claims in the cases that have been decided and the cases that are pending.
If Trump wins reelection, he'll be able to shelve the federal criminal cases or even pardon himself. He also may be able to negotiate a plea deal in the Georgia case on trying to steal the 2020 election, avoiding prison and allowing him to continue as president.The $4 billion question is: Will Trump survive yet another crisis?
David H. Moskowitz, a retired Pennsylvania lawyer, is the author of "The Judge and the President: Stealing the 2020 Election."
You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Can Trump avoid bankruptcy? How he may dodge financial disaster
Trump’s New York real estate empire in limbo after fraud verdict
Ella Lee
Wed, February 21, 2024 at 6:00 AM EST·5 min read
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Trump’s New York real estate empire in limbo after fraud verdict
For more than a century, the Trump family has developed real estate in New York.
But the far-reaching ruling in former President Trump’s civil fraud case, if upheld, could leave the namesake family business without a Trump at its helm for the first time.
Judge Arthur Engoron on Friday ruled that Trump and top executives would for three years be banned from serving as a director or officer of any New York firm. His adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, were exiled for two years. And the powers endowed to an independent monitor overseeing the Trump Organization’s business were expanded.
The decision followed a months-long trial after which the judge determined Trump and top executives conspired to alter his net worth to receive tax and insurance benefits.
With Trump’s top deputies cast out, barring a successful legal appeal, the Trump Organization could be “hamstrung” by the decision, said Will Thomas, a business law professor at the University of Michigan.
“It’s just unclear – who’s there to run this thing?” Thomas said.
The Trump family’s real estate business began with the former president’s grandfather, who started buying land in New York City in the early 1900s. Trump’s father, Fred Trump, expanded the business and Trump, the former president, himself transformed it into the empire it is today.
Trump’s first big project as a young developer in Manhattan got underway in 1976, kicking off the decades-long career in real estate that boosted him to fame – and later, the White House.
During the trial, Trump lawyer Chris Kise described the former president as “part of the fabric” of New York’s real estate industry for half a century and sharply criticized New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) for attempting to put him “out of business.”
While the ruling won’t shutter Trump’s company, it could significantly shake up its organization.
Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have run the Trump Organization together as executive vice presidents since 2017, when their father began his term as president. The ruling would block them from serving in their top leadership positions.
(Ian Langsdon/POOL via AP)
Trump could still appoint someone to lead his company in compliance with Engoron’s order. While barred from serving as a director, he could – as an owner of the Trump Organization and other entities – select directors to serve in his place. Those directors could in turn choose officers to run the business day-to-day.
“It makes it a very, very different kind of business, because…if the owner wants to have some kind of voice, they’re going to have to find someone willing to stand in their place as the director,” said Brian Quinn, a law professor at Boston College.
The question then becomes whom Trump would select, according to Thomas.
“One of the striking features of this case is it just revealed how pervasive these types of practices were across the organization,” he said. “It seems like a condition of being tasked with a leadership position at the Trump Organization, at least up until now, has been at least a willingness, if not eagerness, to routinely engage in fraud.”
There’s nothing preventing Trump from selecting an unbanned family member to fill that role. His wife, Melania Trump, daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner could all be possible contenders, according to Quinn.
However, any decisions would be scrutinized by an independent monitor imposed by the court.
“They still have to be in compliance with the law, they can’t engage in persistent fraud, the statements of financial condition have to be correct and all the rest, but it’s not as if the LLCs are set adrift without a possibility of there being some family control somewhere,” Quinn said.
A spokesperson for the Trump Organization called the ruling a “gross miscarriage of justice” and predicted that, if allowed to stand, it would “only further expedite the continuing exodus of companies from New York.” The spokesperson did not comment on any of the business’s plans going forward.
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“There’s going to be an outsider who’s going to be in the room – and that outsider, presumably, is going to…make sure there’s compliance with the judgment,” Quinn said.
Jones informed the court last month that despite the Trump Organization’s cooperation with her oversight, she identified “deficiencies” in the materials she reviewed — including “disclosures that are either incomplete, present results inconsistently, and/or contain errors.”
Engoron ruled that the Trump Organization must receive Jones’s approval before submitting financial disclosures to third parties and ordered the installation of an independent director of compliance at the business, to be overseen by Jones.
The judge also asked the retired judge to submit a proposed order outlining the “specific authority she believes that she needs to keep defendants honest.”
“I think it’s fair to say this is going to be immensely challenging for the Trump Organization to navigate the next couple of years,” Thomas said. “And while I wouldn’t say it’s the most likely outcome, it wouldn’t at all surprise me if the enterprise just does not survive this transition.”
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Cohen shares why he thinks Putin will take advantage of Trump’s legal battles
CNN
Mon, February 19, 2024 at 12:29 PM EST
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Judge Arthur Engoron hit leaving the page." data-wf-tooltip-position="bottom" data-wf-reset-every="90" style="position: relative;">Donald Trump with a ruling that fined the former president $355 million for fraudulently inflating the values of his properties. Michael Cohen shares his concerns about Trump possibly being compromised.
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