Judge Finds Trump Organization Committed Massive Fraud, Orders Dissolution Of Company

On Tuesday, Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that Donald Trump and his company, the Trump Organization, committed fraud and rescinded its business licenses.

Engoron’s unexpected ruling helps New York Attorney General Letitia James in her lawsuit against Trump. There is now no need for a trial to determine where Trump had committed fraud on loans and insurance debt.

According to James, Trump inflated his properties’ values by $2.2 billion. She is asking for a roughly $250 million fine, but the judge did not rule on that issue.

“We look forward to presenting the rest of our case at trial,” James said.

The ruling resulted in Trump’s business certificates, which allowed the company to operate in New York state, to be revoked. This decision might lead to Trump losing his family estate in Westchester County, the Trump Tower and his golf club in Westchester.

“The decision seeks to nationalize one of the most successful corporate empires in the United States and seize control of private property,” Trump’s lawyer, Christopher Kise, said in a statement.

In Engoron’s order, he wrote that the former president and his sons falsified business records submitted to banks and insurance companies.

“Rent-regulated apartments are worth the same as unregulated apartments; restricted land is worth the same as unrestricted land; restrictions can evaporate into thin air,” wrote Engoron. “That is a fantasy world, not the real world.”

In an effort to have some of the charges dismissed, Trump’s lawyers asked for summary judgment, stating that the charges against Trump were too old to be used in the trial.

“The court disregarded the viewpoint of those actually involved in the loan transactions who testified there’s nothing misleading, there was no fraud, and the transactions were all highly profitable,” Kise stated.

Article by Astrid Valdez