What, The New York AG Says Trump LIED About How Rich He Is? But How Could That BEEEEEE???

UNPOSSIBLE!

Photo by Z on Unsplash

With Donald Trump getting indicted every third day, it’s easy to forget that he’s also being sued by the state of New York for allegedly fraudulently inflating the value of his business. State Attorney General Letitia James had the huevos to bring a civil suit against Trump long before Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg got around to filing false business records charges in the Stormy Daniels hush money case. We’re still a little salty about that, although Bragg did turn in his homework eventually.

The civil suit is due to go to trial in October, and this week AG James filed a motion for partial summary judgment. She argues that it’s simply a numerical fact that Trump inflated his net worth “by between 17-39% in each year, or between $812 million to $2.2 billion,” and thus the fraud count need not be adjudicated at trial. Essentially she’s saying that Trump reported the value of his assets based on nothing but vibes and/or a number he needed to hit to get someone to lend him money. Even as he claimed to be calculating based on generally accepted accounting principles and excluding the value of his brand, it was his regular practice to simply mark up appraisals, assigning a wholly subjective patina of gilt associated with his own name.

And he was still doing it at a deposition in April. Here’s one gem from the transcript, which the AG attached to the the motion:

“We had a value from the No. 1 — Predictiv, from the No. 1 branding person at the time 2.9 or $3 billion and that was years ago. That was back in 2000 and something. And now the brand is worth much more. If you look — I mean I became President because of the brand, okay? I became President.

“I think it's the hottest brand in the world.”

Hat tip to Insider, which flagged the filing, and noted Trump’s idiotic comments congratulating himself for preventing nuclear war and not enriching himself off the presidency.

“I think you would have nuclear holocaust, if I didn't deal with North Korea,” he said, explaining why he was too busy doing president stuff to be involved with the Trump Organization. “I think you would have a nuclear war, if I weren't elected. And I think you might have a nuclear war now, if you want to know the truth.”

Later, the man who owned a hotel on US government property which was frequented by politicians, foreign governments, and corporations seeking to curry favor with the executive branch, castigated his successor for profiting from his office.

“If you look at Biden, he certainly does business and politics at the same time. But I felt I wanted to be a legitimate President. I didn't have to be, from the standpoint of even using the word ‘legitimate.’ I think it's important that you — if you're running the country, you're not doing business. But there was no legal reason that I understood that you had to.”

For his part, Trump insists that he can substantiate his valuations and is entitled to do so at trial. Moreover, he argues that some of the alleged impropriety took place before 2014, and is thus time-barred under a June 27 ruling from the appellate court. In that order, the First Department dismissed Ivanka Trump from the case because claims against her fell outside the statute of limitations. The judges left implementation of the order to the discretion of the trial judge, Justice Arthur Engoron, who will now consider the AG’s claim that Trump relied on his earlier financial statements in support of deals negotiated after 2014.

Prosecutors attached roughly 100 exhibits to the motion, including a transcript of Eric Trump’s deposition, in which he valiantly tried to dodge questions about his father’s involvement in the business.

Trump’s deposition featured extended rambling about his own business acumen and the astronomical value of his properties.

“I think Doral could be worth 2 and a half billion by itself,” he blathered, seemingly unaware that he was under oath before a room full of lawyers in possession of dozens of years of financial statements and appraisals which were likely to show a number significantly lower than $2.5 billion.

In contrast, Eric characterized his father’s role as mostly hands off, only swanning in to bother them with ideas about golf course design:

“Maybe he's at one of the golf course and he wants to redesign a green or something like that because he's a golf fanatic and loves it. But for all intents and purposes, no, he's not sitting in that position and he largely relies on Don and I and other executives to run a nice business.”

All of which is clear to anyone with a social media account: Trump spends his days playing golf of nursing his grievances on Truth Social. The vaunted brand which “he” built is being managed by his decidedly uncharismatic offspring, even as he remains the face of the business. The man who demands to be put back in charge of the government is functionally retired.

On the other hand, he’s about to spend the next two years at least mired in time-consuming litigation which may or may not lead to his eventual incarceration. It’s good that he’s got hobbies to keep him busy!

[NYT / Insider]

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