Judge orders Trump to pay nearly $355 million in civil fraud trial

Criminal thinking 101: Not upset that they did something wrong, upset that they got caught.

 

Mr. Wonderful weighs in from North MAGA …

 

While it's one thing to inflate the value of properties by a factor of 10 to 20 percent as a lot of real estate developers frequently do, it's something else again to triple the value of a property as Trump did with his residence at Trump Tower or to use a value around 10 times the actual value of a property (based on its use as determined by law) which Trump did with Mar-a-Lago and those are only two examples.

 

Trump is not $4B richer because of the Lies Social deal and most likely never will be.

 

So what’s the limit of acceptable over inflating of property? Sounds like something between 20% and 299%?

 

This is one of the fundamental problems with Trump and why he should never run anything in this country. His operating principle is, "Other people take like 2% advantage of a situation and get away with it. I'll go ahead and do the same thing at 2000% and I'll get away with it."

That's not something that should be part of the makeup of someone "sworn to faithfully execute the laws of the U.S."

 

Posts like these are so dishonest.

Remember, about 20 years ago, lenders promoted “no-look” mortgages, where borrowers were told by mortgage brokers, with the tacit blessing of the lenders who simply wanted to grow their portfolios, that there would be no income verification. Just put down whatever amount of income was needed to justify the loan.

And poof!! Great loans were made with amazing terms. People made money hand-over-fist — the borrowers who sold the properties at huge profits, the mortgage brokers, the lenders. It was BOOMING, baby.

Until it wasn’t. Until the market could not sustain the growth, and the lenders needed to collect in the loans. And the income was not there, and the property values plummeted, and the Great Recession hit us like a ton of bricks.

That is the issue we are dealing with in Trump’s case. It’s all well and good, until it isn’t.

And if Trump is held to task, the next billionaire might think twice before lying on his financials going forward.

 

Anyone who says “100 percent of people think …” is just making stuff up

 

Right and just because "everyone" may embellish something like their charitable contributions on their taxes doesn't mean you can use that as a defense if you get audited. It's a risk/reward decision for each person to make. Personally it's not worth it to me to run afoul of the IRS over something like that even if there's a 99.9% chance I could get away with it.

The Trump org knew what they were doing wasn't above board but they did it anyway because they didn't think they'd get caught, and if they did get caught, the penalty would be a pittance compared to benefit. Not a smart move when you put such a big target on your back.

 

So a fraud case that everyone involved was happy and made money. That is worth a $355 mil fine?
Ok, it sure has become the bizzarro world!!

 

Not a fine. It is disgorgement. But I understand how offended you might be that a corrupt business man was exposed and held accountable.

 

I'm not offended in the least. I just think it's crap for any businessman to be charged with fraud when all parties involved are happy, they did the business and want to do more. Who got hurt in any way? Does that not bother you at all? I guess not when you are trying to take down Hitler, you pull no punches!!

 

This is not apology for Trump!!! I would feel the same way if it was the ultra-liberal Soro's deal.

 

Does it bother me that there is rampant corruption inthe real estate development business? Yes. It bothers me.

And to your point about a businessman being charged with fraud “when everyone is happy,” the Judge responded to that point by correctly stating, “What happens next time when things don’t go as smoothly.”

Haven’t we learned anything from the rampant mortgage fraud, where everyone was happy, in the early 2000’s? The one that brought us straight into the Great Recession?

Fraud needs to be stamped out and stopped BEFORE it causes massive damage.

And to the point of disgorgement vs a fine, no fraudster should be allowed to profit from their fraud. Trump’s profits were disgorged, no more, no less. That is fair.

 

How do you know all parties are happy? Isn't it possible there were other business parties who were interested in the same deals, but lost out because Trump cheated? The Trump Org committed fraud, and profited millions off of it. Somebody lost out because of it.

 

Ok I hear you and don't really disagree, but the "what happens next time" is crap!! this is not Minority Report, and we convict for future crimes.

 

So cheaters and law breakers can prosper as long as everything ends well? Is that your take? Who cares about rules as long as things end up ok. And again, how do we know Trump didn't deprive someone else of millions of profits because Trump cheated and got a sweetheart deal he didn't deserve?

 

If Trump wants to inflate the value of his properties so he can be listed on the Forbes 400 or to be higher ranked on the listing that's fine with me. When he inflates the values to obtain better rates on loans that's a matter between him and the legal system to determine if his valuations constituted fraud and so far that's been the determination of the NY AG and the NY Supreme Court (which in NY is the trial court rather than the highest appellate court). Maybe that judge's decision will be reversed on appeal but I doubt it. If Trump is lucky the appellate courts could reduce the amount of damages and conceding that I haven't read the decision and am relying the opinion of others who have done so that's the best the defeated former president can hope for.

 

It's amazing how many people we see here and elsewhere adopt the talking points that, "See, Trump's crimes really weren't so bad because of A, B or C."

How about you get yourself a politician to revere that tries to do NO crime?