Someone remind Judge Arthur Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James that former President Donald Trump already left them years ago when he moved to Florida.
Engoron found Trump liable for $350 million and barred him from conducting business for three years:
Former President Donald Trump was barred from operating his business in New York for three years and was found liable for more than $350 million in damages in the civil fraud case brought against him, his family and the Trump Organization by New York Attorney General Letitia James.New York Judge Arthur Engoron handed down his ruling Friday after a months-long trial beginning in October and stemming from James’ lawsuit alleging the former president inflated his asseta and committed fraud.Engoron also barred Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or legal entity in New York for two years.
Trump’s spokesperson said that they never had an option for a jury trial.
“It is unfortunate that a jury won’t be able to hear how absurd the merits of this case are and conclude no wrongdoing ever happened,” the spokesperson added.
The spokesperson is not wrong. The judge, who would have treated it like a soap opera but got called out on the first day, already decided Trump was guilty.
A jury might have decided differently but who knows:
Throughout the trial, Trump attorneys brought witnesses, including former Deutsche Bank top executives, who testified the banks sought additional business from Trump, who they viewed as a “whale of a client.”Trump’s defense also brought in expert witnesses, including New York University accounting professor Eli Bartov, who reviewed the Trump financial statements at issue in the case and said he found no evidence of accounting fraud.Bartov testified last month that Trump’s financial statements did not violate accounting principles, and he suggested that anything problematic — like a huge year-to-year leap in the estimated value of his Trump Tower penthouse — was simply an error.”My main finding is that there is no evidence whatsoever of any accounting fraud,” Bartov testified. Trump’s financial statements, he said, “were not materially misstated.”
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