A New York appeals court voided the more than half-million-dollar fraud judgment enacted against President Trump and the Trump Organization, but kept in place the lower court decision that Trump and his company engaged in valuation fraud when obtaining loans for their properties.
The five-judge panel split 2-2-1 on its ruling. A bench trial resulted in February 2024 judgment against Trump and his business, with interest added every day afterward – ultimately resulting in more than $527 million, including interest, as of Thursday.
“The court’s disgorgement order, which directs that defendants pay nearly half a billion dollars to the State of New York, is an excessive fine that violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution,” wrote Justice Peter Moulton in one of the opinions issued by the court.
The ruling is a major setback to New York Attorney General Letitia James, who first campaigned for office in 2018 vowing to prosecute Trump and who brought her case in September 2022. Trump’s Department of Justice is currently investigating James for mortgage fraud, which she stated was an act of political retribution.
Trump released a lengthy message on Truth Social where he declared a “total victory.” James issued a statement emphasizing the upholding of the ruling against Trump and his companies while vowing to appeal the ruling.
The fraud was related to inflating the value of properties. But that’s not even mentioned in the article. I thought this website was about Real Estate News? I can find out about the Mandarin Mussolini elsewhere.
Actually, the fraud is mentioned in the first paragraph of the article, and commercial properties fall under the realm of real estate.
John’s TDS is so bad he couldn’t even see what you wrote Phil!
I watched a lawyer who argues these kinds of cases explain this ruling, which is NOT at all a “win for Trump”. All of the LOWER Court’s rulings were found to be valid, well examined, and the findings of that court legitimate.
The only issue of disagreement with this divided decision was the amount of the fine, over 500 million dollars now (with interest included). This was NOT a damages fine, but rather a Disgorgement fine, which is collection of illegally obtained funds due to the fraud.
This court did agree that the Trump company (with Trump’s knowledge) committed FRAUD. The fine is the only issue of disagreement, and because there was NOT a majority opinion (2-2-1), this does allow this to go back to court (appeals).
So Trump is LYING his ass off when he claims that this is a “total win”.
The Trump organization that committed this fraud (inflated real estate values) is still under monitoring of the first court ruling (because the Trump company is NOT considered to be trusted).
We will see if an appeals court allows any sort of disgorgement fine. I hope they do fine the Trump company a substantial sum.
It is amazing to see Trump and his MAGA mob go after “mortgage fraud” for so many “enemies of Trump”, and, yet, even if some mortgage fraud is found to be true, it likely pales in comparison to the Fraud that Trump committed.
Hey, sure, go after anyone who has committed fraud, regardless of political party, but do NOT pretend that Trump ever gets the same kind of harsh treatment that regular people suffer. He seems to skate away even when convicted in a court of law with evidence and witnesses supporting the findings.
But, we’ve seen this with other well-connected and rich people. The Wall Street crooks who in 2008 nearly shoved the entire world into a Depression cycle walked not just free, but most of those financial firms were bailed out with YOUR Tax Dollars to prevent a global depression (we had a long term recession instead), and that massive bailout paid for salaries and bonuses to the financial entities who had engineered the criminal debacle, all while so many homeowners fell into foreclosure.
That 2008 bailout was thanks to the Bush/Cheney TARP bill that was rushed into law in the final months of the Bush II Administration. Those same Financial firms also enjoyed ZERO interest loans for several years (reported later by Bloomberg News), yet NO homeowner got a ZERO interest loan.
This kind of favoritism should be a concern for everyone who wants a fair legal, economic, and governmental system. This is NOT just about one party or the other.
It seems to be an illness that impacts all political parties to some extent or another.
Julie..You are spot on..Great reply!!!
Thanks for the clear and relatively neutral explanation . Very helpful .