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

Trump is singular amongst our elected presidents in that he preceded his term with a life of crime. He also committed one of the most brazen crimes in this country's history by trying to negate the will of the people and stay in office.

The deplorable coalition thinks his election in 2016 is essentially a lifetime pardon for any crimes until he stops running for any office. Other Americans with less flexible morality systems disagree.

And as I've said before here, if you've gotten away with a life of crime don't run for a major federal office. The possibility of being exposed and rightly jailed for these individuals needs to be a disincentive for trying to get elected.

 

Banana republic type shit is a defeated incumbent president orchestrating a coup in an attempt to stay (fortunately failed) in power. No matter what one thinks of the Clintons they didn't do anything close to what Trump has done.

 

$175 mil in ten days instead of the $355 per a news report. The judgement stands pending appeal.

 

MSN

“A New York appeals court on Monday gave former president Donald Trumpten more days to post a $175 million bond in his civil-fraud case. If he pays the reduced amount by the deadline, he won’t need to satisfy the original $464 million judgment and will avoid having has assets seized.”

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“The appellate ruling temporarily prevents New York attorney general Letitia James from seizing the real-estate mogul’s properties to enforce the judgment, which she previously indicated she would do if he didn’t post a bond by Monday. The collection deadline is now delayed to early next month.

The order also allows Trump and his sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, to run the family’s New York businesses and obtain loans from New York banks, both of which were previously banned for the next three years under Engoron’s order. The Manhattan judge’s court-ordered monitor and the appointment of a compliance director for Trump’s company is still in effect, though.”

 

I found the Order earlier but didn't see any analysis or reasoning offered by the Court.

 

While I feel no sympathy, and I understand it's the same law for everyone, it does feel kind of wrong that he could have his property sold at fire-sale prices while he's in the process of appealing. That being said, there should be some consequence so that he can't just continue to delay for an extended period of time without recourse. This feels like a good middle ground and I wouldn't expect the Manhattan DA to be in a worse position if they start collecting on the remainder (assuming he loses his appeal) several months down the road. Since the monitor remains in place, that should prevent any funny business, and the properties should largely still be worth the same amount they are today.

 

So here is Trump's next legal gambit.

Trump has now said on Truth Social and at his presser today that he planned to use the money for this judgment for his campaign.

When all his NY state appeals are done and it's time to pay up, he will file in federal court that NY state is performing election interference by seizing funds and/or assets that could be used to pay for his presidential campaign.

He will be hoping to get a Trump friendly judge to issue a stay until after the election.

 

Read 8th Amendment to the U S Constitution that will kind of give you an idea of their thinking.

 

Anyone picked up on the new lie Trump is using, "I was going to use much of that money for the campaign."

BS. I would bet he spent less than $1 million of his own money TOTAL in the first two campaigns.

I am also curious of the legality of Trump Corp (who got the fine if I'm not mistaken) funds being used for the campaign.

Anyway... wish the Orange Traitor would just have a stroke and get this over with. So sick of his lies and just pure evil.

 

I know there were arguments about the fine being excessive, and that may have been the reasoning or partial reasoning.

Notably, in addition to reducing the bond amount, the Court stayed some non-monetary provisions of the judgment while declining to stay others (e.g., the monitor). Maybe those non monetary provisions were also considered "fines," but it'd be interesting to know how the appellate Court drew the lines in terms of what it deemed excessive and what it did not. I guess the appellate Court could have gone so far to set the bond at zero or some more nominal amount it thought the process was inherently flawed or that the case was not legally supported absent a "victim" (which has been another defense argument being raised)? I do recall seeing a specific reference to the disgorgement portion of the judgment, and I don't know if there might be a statutory argument there above and beyond the 8th Amendment arguments. I didn't go back to review the judgment or try to reverse-engineer the calculation that resulted in the new bond amount.

Not sure if the is any chance for appellate review of the new bond amount or not. Seems like it would be tough since the appellate court doesn't explain why it did what it did. Maybe it will issue a reasoned opinion now that it's resolved the most immediate issue.

 

Who is the entity that said what the real value of Trump's properties really were?

I seem to have overlooked that detail in their fraud case.

 

trump himself for one. Applying for a loan: property worth X. The taxman comes ‘round property worth 1/3 X.

Some folks are born silver spoon in hand
Lord, don't they help themselves, Lord?
But when the taxman come to the door
Lord, the house lookin' like a rummage sale, yeah

 

So on a paywalled story on Daily Beast today, it's revealed that Trump's bond in his civil case wouldn't be paid by the "lender," but by Trump himself in cash if he loses the appeal. That's not any kind of normal bond at all, but what do you expect from a fraud artist?

It's hard to imagine a subprime lender with ties to Russia that finances the porn industry would be shady. Oh wait, of course it isn't.

 

Interesting thing is, Russia's fingerprints are even on the underlying crimes. A lot was made about the argument that DeutscheBank said they would have lent it to him anyway and were not victimized. Of course, he's stolen and ripped off so many lenders. No rational lender would have loaned him the money. DB what's his only option. There's a reason for that.

DB has significant connections to the Russians for money laundering purposes, already have had a judgment entered against them in Europe for it, and that's why they were the only lender that would deal with him, they were being directed by their masters in Moscow. This is but one example found with quick search.

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN15E2SP/

He is completely the asset of a hostile foreign power that hates the United States

 

And who is the victim here? I'm sure the bank wants to sue Trump for this violation of trust in this fraud case. Oh wait, the bank never complained... and got repaid with interest... and no one was defrauded.

 

Rick, there are rules about obtaining loans. Some of them have been codified into laws. When you violate the law you have committed a crime.

Bank Fraud Law.

Any illegal act that involves the use of deception to obtain money or other property from a financial institution, or from a bank’s depositors, is often categorized as bank fraud. Like other fraud offenses, bank fraud involves the use of a “scheme or artifice”to obtain something of value.

 

It should be noted that not only does DB have these issues, the group lending him the money was the specific group caught on the money laundering. The more standard real estate group wouldn't loan him money due to default risk being too high based on his past history. Only this group, who was laundering money as part of the giant money laundering operation that is the financial sector of the Russian economy, would lend him money.

Again, you have to start from a fairly simple piece of information and everything clicks into place: Donald Trump runs a licensing business that is willing to work with white collar criminals in hiding the value of assets (for either direct fraud or money laundering purposes), which makes him a useful appendage to a large-scale money laundering operation.

 

Have not seen this bond, but have seen enough to know this is not how they are supposed to work

 

It's ironic since we have the "Trump is being politically targeted - it's so unfair!" crowd when in reality, Trump is being given latitude that no other defendant in the country would get. The lies and irregularities with this bond, defying gag orders, getting the benefit of the doubt on his off the wall appeals.

 

This is what happened to another defendant who knowingly violated a gag order. Trump will never experience similar sanctions from any court.
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