[ Indeed, when Letitia James filed suit against Trump last year,
she dubbed his behavior the “art of the steal.”]
[[link removed]]

A COURT RULING THAT TARGETS TRUMP’S PERSONA  
[[link removed]]


 

Lora Kelley
September 27, 2023
The Atlantic
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ Indeed, when Letitia James filed suit against Trump last year, she
dubbed his behavior the “art of the steal.” _

, Art work by Eric Fischl

 

Donald Trump is a deals guy. He rode his image as real-estate mogul
and a maestro of transactions first to pop-culture stardom, then to
the White House. Now a judge has ruled that much of that dealmaking
was fraudulent: New York Judge Arthur Engoron found
[[link removed]] yesterday
that Trump and his associates, including his sons Eric and Donald Jr.,
committed persistent fraud
[[link removed]] by
toggling estimates of property values in order to get insurance and
favorable terms on loans. The judge ordered that some of the Trump
Organization’s “certificates,” or corporate charters, be
canceled, and that a receiver be appointed by the court to dissolve
some of its New York companies. This latest blow for Trump puts on
record that his mythos of business acumen was largely built on lies.

This ruling on its own hinders some of the Trump Organization’s
operations in New York State by cutting off Trump’s control of
assets. But really, it is just a first step toward the broader
business restrictions on Trump that New York Attorney General Letitia
James is seeking, Celia Bigoness, a clinical professor of law at
Cornell, told me. And to the extent that this ruling shows how the
judge feels about James’s suit, first brought against Trump last
year, things are not looking great for him. In the trial set to start
next week, the judge will determine penalties for the fraud committed:
James has requested that those include a $250 million fine and
restrictions that prevent the former president and some of his
children from running a company in New York ever again. “Trump is
synonymous with New York,” Bigoness said. Losing control of his New
York businesses and properties would amount to “his home and the
place that he has tied himself to shutting him out entirely.” It
could also be hugely costly.

This week’s summary judgment is unusual, legal experts told me: The
judge essentially determined that it was so clear that Trump had
committed fraud that it wasn’t worth wasting time at a trial
figuring that part out. Instead, the trial will be used to determine
whether Trump’s New York businesses should be further limited as
punishment for the fraud—and whether the other demands of James’s
suit will be met. It’s somewhat rare for a summary judgment to get
to the core of a case like this, and the judge’s decision was
distinctly zingy and personal. Responding to Trump’s team’s claims
that the suit wasn’t valid, Judge Engoron said that he had already
rejected their arguments, and that he was reminded of the “time-loop
in the film ‘Groundhog Day.’” In a footnote to his ruling, he
quoted a Chico Marx line from _Duck Soup_: “Well, who ya gonna
believe, me or your own eyes?”

In another unusual move, the judge also included individual fines
against Trump’s lawyers as part of the ruling, charging each $7,500
for bringing arguments so “frivolous” that they wasted the
court’s time. Separately, Trump’s lawyers are trying to sue the
judge (a long-shot attempt). Trump, for his part, posted on Truth
Social that he had “done business perfectly”; he also called the
judge “deranged.” Reached for comment, the Trump attorney
Christopher Kise called the decision “outrageous” and
“completely disconnected from the facts and governing law.”
“President Trump and his family will seek all available appellate
remedies to rectify this miscarriage of justice,” he said in an
emailed statement. An appeals process from Trump’s camp could extend
into the next presidential-election cycle. His team might also attempt
to get an emergency stay to prevent the trial from starting next week.

This ruling, and the rest of James’s suit, are circumscribed to New
York. Technically, Trump would still be free to spin up new businesses
as he sees fit in another state, and he has holdings beyond New York.
But even if he could legally incorporate a new business in, say,
Florida or Illinois, it might not make financial or brand sense for
him. The fallout from this case could wind up being very costly for
Trump, so setting up shop elsewhere, although not impossible, could be
a major financial hurdle. Plus, “New York is the place Trump wants
to do business and has been doing business for forever,” Caroline
Polisi, a white-collar defense attorney and lecturer at Columbia Law
School, told me.

Yesterday’s ruling may do little to dampen Trump’s appeal among
his die-hard fans, who have stuck with him through all manner of
scandals, including a running list of criminal indictments. But it
could puncture Trump’s persona. My colleague David A. Graham wrote
[[link removed]] today
that the fact that Trump and his co-defendants, including his sons,
committed fraud is not surprising. What is surprising, he argued, is
that they are facing harsh consequences. “Trump’s political career
is based on the myth that he was a great businessman,” David told
me. “This ruling cuts straight to the root of that, showing that his
business success was built on years of lies.” Indeed, when Letitia
James filed suit against Trump last year, she dubbed
[[link removed]] his
behavior the “art of the steal.”

_Lora Kelley is an associate editor at The Atlantic and an author
of the Atlantic Daily newsletter
[[link removed]]._

* Donald Trump
[[link removed]]
* lawsuit
[[link removed]]
* lies
[[link removed]]
* disinformation
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]

Manage subscription
[[link removed]]

Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]