Yesterday, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ruled (NYSEF Doc. No. 1531) in a partial summary judgment that former President Donald Trump, his two adult sons, and several of his associates committed financial fraud by preparing, certifying, and submitting to lenders and insurers false and misleading financial statements. See Lauren Aratani, Five key takeaways from Donald Trump's financial fraud case, The Guardian, Sept. 26, 2023 (Apple News link).
In his September 26, 2023 opinion, Justice Engoron wrote,
Exacerbating defendants' obstreperous conduct is their continued reliance on bogus arguments, in papers and oral argument. In defendants' world: 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; a disclaimer by one party casting responsibility on another party exonerates the other party's lies; the Attorney General of the State of New York does not have capacity to sue or standing to sue never mind all those cases where the Attorney General has sued successfully) under a statute expressly designed to provide that right; all illegal acts are untimely if they stem from one untimely act; and square footage subjective.
That is a fantasy world, not the real world.
The case filings are voluminous, with 1,535 efiled documents so far. I reviewed the documents and found two noteworthy charts.
(1) The chart, "Deceptive Strategies Employed By Trump By Assets Per Year" (NYSEF Doc. No. 3), is a masterpiece in concisely presenting complex information. The chart is the first exhibit to the Attorney General's complaint:
The left column lists the asset and the remaining columns are for years 2011 through 2021. Color-coded letters "A" through "P" identify the deceptive strategies that Trump allegedly used.
(2) The organizational chart that is Exhibit 2 of the complaint (NYSEF Doc. No. 4) shows how nearly all of Trump's assets are owned by a revocable trust:
A January 10, 2017, email by Michael D. Holl (HCC Global) (NYSEF Doc. No. 105) explains this chart:
[T]hey did provide the org chart and explained that everything except his apartment falls into the Trump Revokable Trust. Currently, everything is 100% owned by Donald. The Trust governance is what will change. . . .
Citizen Vox has a report with interactive visuals that show that Trump's revocable trust controls his numerous business holdings.
Hani Sarji
New York lawyer who cares about people, is fascinated by technology, and is writing his first book, Estate of Confusion: New York.
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