Judge rules Donald Trump defrauded banks, insurers as he built real estate empire

Judge has ruled that Donald Trump committed fraud for years while building the real estate empire that catapulted him to fame and the White House.

Judge Arthur Engoron, ruling Tuesday in a civil lawsuit brought by New York’s attorney general, found that the former president and his company deceived banks, insurers and others by massively overvaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth on paperwork used in making deals and securing financing.

SuicideEnthusiast,

I hope Trump goes bankrupt and goes to prison for attempting to destroy our democracy

aexm,

😂 dudes done for

Jimmycakes,

Lock him up

scripthook,
@scripthook@lemmy.world avatar

And you wonder why he never wanted to release his tax returns. Becoming President put him under the microscope and what he did after the 2020 election was by his own doing. I hope that Trump supporters stick with him if he’s in prison before the 2024 election. It’ll be the easiest election to win. One candidate is in prison for attempting to overturn the last election but claims he can pardon himself. The other is not. Hrmmm which one should you vote for?

v_krishna,
@v_krishna@lemmy.ml avatar

Crazy part is thanks in no small part to the electoral college it’ll still be a close election in your scenario

phoenixz,

People will still vote Trump, if not just to see what will happen

jigsaw250,

I’m hoping enough people can keep their curiosity in check, but I’m not holding my breath.

Gumus,

A lot of people voted for Brexit just to see what happens (because they actually didn’t believe it would go through). Look at how that worked for them…

squiblet,
squiblet avatar

The idea of frivolous voting like that is pretty dumb. Or "I'll vote for this person to shake up the system!" or "as a protest!"

InternetUser2012,

For sure people will, but a lot less will. Either way, he’s not going to win. That being said, FUCKING VOTE!!! If everyone votes, the right has zero chance. They know it, it’s why they’re doing everything they can to make it harder to vote, and this bullshit gerrymandering they’ve managed to pull off.

Furbag,

It’s like throwing a few scraps of bark onto a roaring inferno at this point. I don’t need more reasons to hate this guy more than I already do.

IHaveTwoCows,

I dont care about him; I care about his violent, evil, uncivilized fascist supporters. Those people want all non-whites destroyed and all non-cheistians tortured…AND NOBODY IS DOING ANYTHING TO STOP THEM.

Nobody,

If he had lost in 2016, Trump TV would have stolen Fox’s audience and been the de facto voice of the Republican Party. No indictments. No scrutiny. Hillary would have been in charge during the pandemic and kept the public safe. The Supreme Court would still be a trusted institution (minus Citizens United) running in the political background.

We would have our nice, stable, boring politics back. Hillary would wear a tan pantsuit, and that would be the headline for the next two weeks.

assassin_aragorn,

Honestly I don’t know about that. I think Trump was a direct product of Romney losing in 2012.

Sooner or later, the far right was going to take off their masks, and the Republicans were going to show that the extremists hold their leash. It was always going to come to a head like this I think.

PRUSSIA_x86,

This has been coming since the 90s. Without external pressure caused by the Soviet Union, infighting was inevitable, and infighting ultimately breeds extremism.

blazeknave,

I miss boring!!!

IHaveTwoCows,

Citizens United can easily be voided. Literally ZERO Congressmen want that to happen. As long as money is speech, you are being taxed without having representation.

Hazdaz,

The big questions that no one is asking:

Why did it take so long to get him for fraud? They specifically mentioned that this was while he was building his real estate empire. He’s been doing that since the 80s. Why the fuck did it take some 4 decades to build up a big enough case against him?! Why wasn’t he previously investigated? Why weren’t any of our useless news agencies digging into his finances? He ran for fucken president, for fucks sakes… why couldn’t all this mess have been avoided if various news departments and law enforcement agencies did their damn jobs.

The most egregious thing about all this is that if he didn’t run for president, probably none of this criminal activity would ever have really come to light. District attorneys and news rooms across the country would have just let all this slide. Which then makes you wonder - how many other billionaires are there out there who are nearly as corrupt as Trump, but because they don’t lavish the media attention, they keep low and none of us know about them. Why aren’t those people being investigated? Why does it take decades to go after these asswipes and only when they purposefully shine the light on themselves?

prole,

Which then makes you wonder - how many other billionaires are there out there who are nearly as corrupt as Trump

All of them.

blazeknave,

Jinx

CharlesDarwin,
@CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world avatar

The media did so very little to vet him. They just wanted the eyeballs.

Hazdaz,

Free-pass after free-pass for Republicans. Impossibly-high standards for Democrats.

blazeknave,

From both sides of the media nonetheless bc ads

Hazdaz,

The left might be even worse than the far right. Everyone knows that Fox is shit, but the left likes to pretend they have higher values or doesn’t push propaganda, but they use the same techniques as the Infowars or NewsMax of the world.

Natanael,

Both sides are the same hurr durr

blazeknave,

Same tactics to accomplish what though? The “left wing media” isn’t espousing Nazi propaganda.

reverendsteveii,

Found the butthurt Trump supporter

emptiestplace,

Am I stupid for feeling skeptical still?

Natanael,

They’re dissolving his NY state based companies, that’s very big

____,

What’s especially interesting to me about that is that in certain industries (real estate seems a likely one, insurance is the one I know for certain), other states will ask when granting/renewing licenses whether there has been official action against the licensee and/or a licensed business entity they were an officer/partner of… And decline to issue the same license based on that action.

Not to say the biz can’t continue in, say, FL, but some significant restructuring of officers and the like may be required. I don’t think business licenses or corp filings ask the same questions, but that may vary by state. In either case, this is a bigger problem for him than “not doing business in NY”

blazeknave,

Are you stupid for using your five senses and memory of recent events synthesized by your ability to recognize patterns? No. You’re not stupid.

moormaan,

This comment seems misunderstood, judging by the downvotes.

blazeknave,

Hahaha was it downvoted? Boost only shows the net. I’m at 1 right now.

moormaan,

Yea, a lot 😂

blazeknave,

Lmao. How does this happen? I think so fucking long and hard before a downvote. I’m validating the person’s insecurity in their sanity!

blazeknave,

Dude! You saved the day!

fne8w2ah,

Let covfefe’s house of cards crumble like the small whiny weenie that he is!

KairuByte,
@KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

In equally shocking news: Water is wet.

2piradians,

Syracuse decided they had one too many orangemen

Viking_Hippie,

So why the hell is this a civil suit rather than a criminal one?? Last I checked, bank fraud, insurance fraud, and other fraud are all illegal crimes that are against the law!

tryptaminev,

I am also confused. Why does the attorney general put forward a civil suit in the first place? Civil court is for parties to seek damages or the other party to do or stop doing actions against contractual obligations.

Or did Trump defraud the city of New York and it is seeking compensation?

Viking_Hippie,

Or did Trump defraud the city of New York and it is seeking compensation?

Yeah, some of the “other fraud” is tax fraud, so in a very real and direct sense, he defrauded New York. Still doesn’t make sense for it to be a civil suit rather than a criminal one, though.

Must be nice to be rich and powerful enough for your decades of major crimes to count as civil infractions 😮‍💨

DarthBueller,

Quite simple. Civil liability standard of proof is preponderance of the evidence, which is far less than the standard of proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt in criminal.

Natanael,

The type of suit depends on the type of law violated and the type of injured party. Civil law vs criminal law, etc.

EmpathicVagrant,

Only if you’re a poor.

elbarto777,

Not that I don’t agree with you, but I just want to point out that not all cases of breaking the law are criminal. For example, if you run a red light, a cop won’t throw you in jail for it. You’ll get a fine, though.

Of course, what Trump did should put him in jail.

But seeing his empire dismantle must be more devastating to his ego than the possibility of prison.

insomniac,
@insomniac@sh.itjust.works avatar

Fraud is a crime that can come with jail time though.

Viking_Hippie,

if you run a red light, a cop won’t throw you in jail for it. You’ll get a fine, though.

Traffic violations such as that are considered civil offences, not criminal ones. Trump keeps being found guilty of federal crimes in civil courts. There’s no way that someone less rich and powerful would get the same treatment.

elbarto777,

You have a point. If I keep running red lights, even after paying fines and having my license suspended, I will be thrown in jail.

singron,

They could potentially bring a related criminal suit later. I’m not an attorney, and there are a lot of specific rules about, but the stakes are lower in a civil case (i.e. no prison) and the burden of proof is easier, so you can more easily prove things or get the defense to admit things in a civil case that can sometimes make a criminal case easier.

Even if you can’t cite the civil case from the criminal case, just the fact that the civil case ruled one way gives the prosecution confidence to commit to a criminal case and leverage if they negotiate a settlement.

Viking_Hippie,

Fair enough. I’m gonna be pessimistic in stead of completely dismissive about the possibility of him seeing significant consequences, then 😁

prole,

Could be due to the lower threshold for evidence (preponderance vs. beyond a reasonable doubt). Though I would imagine there’s tons of evidence of this since it’s been going on for 4 decades.

PersnickityPenguin,

Just FYI, but Trump has been involved with 4,095 lawsuits during his career.

This is a major on though.

www.azcentral.com/pages/…/trump-lawsuits/

reverendsteveii,

Answer to the question you asked: what he’s technically accused of here is defrauding someone and the law will err on the side of “making the aggrieved party whole” (forcing him to give back what he stole) in these cases. After all, if someone ran off with all your money today would you be happier if the government hurt that person or if they made that person give it back to you. Someone steals my money no jail sentence is gonna satisfy me as much as being able to pay my mortgage.

Answer to the question you meant to ask: Takes less evidence to get a civil suit to court, and in the process of prosecuting the civil suit you can get subpoenas for evidence and testimony that can lead to criminal indictments. This is basically getting a foot in the door to look at his taxes, his accounting records and everything else. Wouldn’t be shocked at all if there are criminal indictments on the way.

4am,

…ahem

*** NO FUCKING SHIT

ImFresh3x,

Went to Fox News to find this huge story. Scrolled by 7 non stories to find the headline ‘judge announced ruling on trump case’ with a picture of the judge looking black holding a microphone as if she’s some *political activist,” with no mention that he was found guilty of massive decades long fraud.

thorbot,

Excuse me what the fuck does looking black mean in this context? She is black, of course she looks black…

lemmyman,

FYI the photo you’re referring to is of NY Attorney General Letitia James, not the judge. She looks black because she’s black.

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/0b368718-0f21-4e39-8da5-9e924e164a01.png

ChickenLadyLovesLife,

Excellent image-based propaganda, showing Trump clapping which implies he’s celebrating exoneration.

roguetrick,

Summary judgement? Nice. Trump's team didn't see that coming I bet.

athos77,

Isn't this the case where his lawyers screwed up and failed to file paperwork requesting a jury trial, so the judge got to make the ruling on her own?

jballs,
@jballs@sh.itjust.works avatar

For anyone, like me, who didn’t know what a summary judgement was:

Summary judgment is granted when the facts can be decided upon without needing to go to trial, where the opposing party would lose due to a lack of evidence. If it’s not clear that there is no more evidence, then summary judgment must be denied.

DarthBueller,

Fun fact: while the word judgment has accepted spellings in US English with or without an “e” after the “g,” US legal system spelling does not have that flexibility. The correct spelling in legal filings is “judgment.” I say this because you have both and it tickles me.

jballs,
@jballs@sh.itjust.works avatar

Huh, who knew? You think I would’ve noticed it from the two times it copied and pasted correctly.

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