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Kevin O’Leary Explains to Stunned CNN Audience Why New York Case Against President Trump Is Nonsense
Conservative Treehouse ^ | January 12, 2024 | Sundance

Posted on 01/13/2024 6:07:30 AM PST by george76

Everything about the case in New York City against the Trump Organization business operations is ridiculous. There are no victims. There was no fraud. All of the lenders did their own due diligence. All of the loans were paid back without issue, and the statement of financial condition was factual and accurate. There were no defaults or banking interests adversely impacted. There are no victims of what the State calls “fraud.”

New York Attorney General Latisha James campaigned for office with promises to target the Trump Organization and Donald Trump himself. This is malicious Lawfare in the extreme. Additionally, the statute being used as the predicate for the case is a consumer fraud statute, intended to protect borrowers from predatory lenders. In the four corners of this case, Trump is the borrower, and the banks were the lenders. New York is flipping the statute to claim the borrower defrauded the lenders, despite the lenders denying there was any fraud and there was no harm. The entire case is ridiculous.

Appearing on CNN, O’Leary Ventures Chairman Kevin O’Leary outlines, to a perplexed Laura Coates, why Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York is political nonsense.

...

O’LEARY: Well, let’s leave out Trump for a minute, and let’s leave out politics, and just talk about what happens in real estate development anywhere. So, if you’re a developer and you’ve got a building on the block, anywhere in America, and it’s worth, let’s say, $500 million, and you want to build a building right beside it, you go to the bank and say, “This building is worth $500 million. I’d like to borrow a construction finance loan against this asset, and I want you to tell me it’s worth $500 million too.”

And the bank negotiates with you, and says, “Well no, we think it’s worth $400 million,” and you fight it out. You are always trying to show your assets in the brightest light with the sunshine you can possibly determine for them. You want them to be worth the very most because you’re only going to get a 40 to 50 percent loan to value, as it’s called. Then you borrow that money, in the case of a $500 million asset, maybe you get $250 million, and you build the new building with a construction finance loan. So that’s what this case is all about.

And by the way, forget about Trump, every single real estate developer everywhere on earth does this. They always talk about their asset being worth a lot and the bank says no. That’s just the way it is. So in this case, what I’m trying to figure out, and I’m not pro or con, or I don’t care about the politics, who lost money? Nobody. The bank got paid back the construction finance loan, and a new building was built. If you’re going to sue this case and win, you’ve gotta sue every real estate developer everywhere. This is all they do. This is what they do all day long every day. So I don’t think this thing will ever survive appeal regardless of what the fine is. This doesn’t even make sense.

Now look, I understand Trump has a lot of problems in other indictments and everything else, but if you’re a real estate developer, you’re watching this and saying, “What is this? This is ridiculous.”


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: kevinoleary; newyork; newyorkcity
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1 posted on 01/13/2024 6:07:30 AM PST by george76
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To: george76

Yep.


2 posted on 01/13/2024 6:12:51 AM PST by sauropod (The obedient always think of themselves as virtuous rather than cowardly.)
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To: george76

Icing on the cake would have been him explaining that if President Trump was doing what James alleges, that the state and city have been overcharging him on his taxes for years and that he could sue for a refund.

I’m betting that would have ended the segment quickly.


3 posted on 01/13/2024 6:16:16 AM PST by qaz123
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To: george76
This was my business too and he's exactly right. Banks decide what they will loan on properties and they use their own appraisers and number crunchers to set the value.

Just like when you get a house appraisal for a mortgage, you don't control what value the appraiser estimates even though you pay the appraiser. You don't select or even know the appraiser, the mortgage company does that.

4 posted on 01/13/2024 6:23:18 AM PST by SaxxonWoods (Are you ready for Black Lives MAGA? It's coming.)
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To: SaxxonWoods

Anyone who has ever bought a house and needed a substantial mortgage knows that it’s the bank’s determination as to what the house’s value is that matters, not what you offered the seller. Will the house “appraise out” by the mortgage lender is a common discussion item among buyers, agents, sellers,


5 posted on 01/13/2024 6:29:50 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: george76

Oh, and I also enjoyed learning recently about how James’ office seemingly kept making sexual harassment allegations against her chief of staff from being made public knowledge until after her reelection. Maybe not directly germane to this case against Trump, but it seems to say a lot about the integrity (or lack thereof) of how James conducts her affairs.


6 posted on 01/13/2024 6:30:45 AM PST by OttawaFreeper ("The Gardens was founded by men-sportsmen-who fought for their country" Conn Smythe, 1966 )
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To: george76

This guy sums it all up very well, although he doesn’t touch on one aspect of the case that has bothered me, which is that the court is arguing that it was a fraud for Trump to claim his properties were worth more than the tax appraised value.

95% of properties are worth more than the tax-appraised value!


7 posted on 01/13/2024 6:31:18 AM PST by TexasFreeper2009
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To: george76

I’d argue this is just another explanation of what any sane person already knows.

If you were to ask anyone what their net worth is on any given day, they’d probably be wrong, at least ‘to the penny’. This case tries to say it’s criminal, even when nobody is complaining. It’s absurd. If the State can do this then they’re giving themselves new broad powers that they’ve never had before.


8 posted on 01/13/2024 6:31:52 AM PST by fuzzylogic (welfare state = sharing of poor moral choices among everybody)
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To: george76
NYC’s 10 most active developers of 2020

Here you go Ms. James, go after these developers also! Prove you’re not bias! Oh I like #8, JP Morgan Chase, do you think the bank defrauded itself? Look Ms. James, that’s a twofer, evil developer and evil bank…….

https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2020/12/28/nycs-10-most-active-developers-of-2020/

9 posted on 01/13/2024 6:33:55 AM PST by Lockbox (politicians, they all seemed like game show hosts to me.... Sting…)
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To: All

Ghetto-nurtured Latisha James went slumming, and campaigned
for office targeting Donald Trump. But first she had to find a crime.
<><>the statute she inexplicably chose to “get Trump” is a consumer fraud statute,
<><>the statue is intended to protect borrowers from predatory lenders.
<><>in this case, there is no mistaking that Trump is the borrower, and the banks were the lenders.
<><>James is ghettoizing the statute, reducing it to an extralegal claim
<><>she claims the borrower defrauded the lenders,
<><>yet lenders deny there was fraud, loans were repaid, there was no “legal harm” perpetrated.


10 posted on 01/13/2024 6:35:21 AM PST by Liz
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To: george76

Who was stunned?

There was no evidence of stunning.


11 posted on 01/13/2024 6:35:46 AM PST by WeaslesRippedMyFlesh (Wake me up when somebody tells the truth.)
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To: SaxxonWoods

And you pay their appraiser

Bad appraisal or not which sucks when it’s low


12 posted on 01/13/2024 6:49:25 AM PST by wardaddy (I have seen true anti semitism is more common in USA than I imagined. A disease in the public mind)
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To: wardaddy

I appraised residential and commercial properties. Sellers always think the appraisal is low, buyers think it’s high. We pay no attention and bring it in where the research says it comes in.


13 posted on 01/13/2024 6:51:41 AM PST by SaxxonWoods (Are you ready for Black Lives MAGA? It's coming.)
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To: george76

The entire case is ridiculous.”

That is a factual statement utterly bereft of hyperbole.

Now, how much do we suffer this vicious illegal lawfare before we refuse to play the game. They are perverting law to serve their political ends. At some point enough must be enough.


14 posted on 01/13/2024 6:54:09 AM PST by TalBlack (I We have a Christian duty and a patriotic duty. God help us.)
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To: george76

At some point they will stop playing around and kill him (or try).


15 posted on 01/13/2024 6:55:28 AM PST by Salman (It's not a slippery slope if it was part of the program all along. )
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To: george76

The aggravating part of this sordid scenario is Judge Imamoron has already declared Trump guilty. They’re now just arguing how much Trump has to pay.


16 posted on 01/13/2024 6:59:23 AM PST by Dan in Wichita
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To: george76

Right, and the NY commie AG used consumer protection laws to target a business transaction between two businesses. No one was defrauded because no one lost any money. It’s all a political attack, and nothing more.


17 posted on 01/13/2024 7:04:21 AM PST by Dr. Franklin ("A republic, if you can keep it." )
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To: george76

Good job Kevin

However isn’t it

Letitia James?


18 posted on 01/13/2024 7:10:06 AM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: WeaslesRippedMyFlesh

If one is watching CNN one is by definition already stunned. Stuned Beebers optional.


19 posted on 01/13/2024 7:15:29 AM PST by xp38
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To: george76

As a residential redeveloper, I do this all the time. It’s called “ARV” - and I win some positioning with my bankers... and lose some positioning, at times. If Trump and his team mess that up, then they are the ones who will likely pay for that mistake in millions of $$ in interest. This is why Dems should stop asking to see Trump’s taxes. They are not remotely experienced or smart enough to parse them. That googly eyed black grifter cow should be recalled.


20 posted on 01/13/2024 7:18:30 AM PST by LittleBillyInfidel (This tagline has been formatted to fit the screen. Some content has been edited.)
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