Posted on 03/18/2024 2:54:43 PM PDT by NYer
Attorneys for former President Donald Trump urged a New York appeals court again on March 18 to remove or lower the $464 million bond President Trump must pay in less than a week as he tries to appeal a more than $350 million judgment from a civil fraud case.
“Enforcing an impossible bond requirement as a condition of appeal would inflict manifest irreparable injury on Defendants, and ‘defeat or impair [this Court’s] appellate jurisdiction,’” they argued.
The New York Attorney General’s office, which brought the civil fraud lawsuit, argued the appeals court had no authority to do so, while the defense pointed to other cases where it was found appropriate. The bond President Trump would have to put up would include backdated interest at 9 percent, adding another $100 million to the court ordered fine, which defense attorneys say has been improperly classified as disgorgement of ill-gotten gains.
They pointed out, as they had repeatedly, that the case named no victims, and therefore no one would be harmed in a delay of payment.
“The case involves no actual victims and no award of restitution, and [the attorney general] is fully protected by Defendants’ real-estate holdings. This factor alone warrants a stay,” the defense argued.
“The judgment seeks to destroy a successful business that employs many hardworking New Yorkers, has contributed approximately $300 million in taxes to public coffers just during the dates in question in this case, and has made historic contributions to the State and City of New York.”
Attorneys also revealed that 30 companies have already turned down the defense’s bond applications, attaching an affidavit from one of the brokers. A $454 million bond would require President Trump to have $1 billion in cash reserves, and four brokers have separate brokers have tried to obtain one so far to no avail.
After a 45-day bench trial, Justice Engoron had ruled for the plaintiffs on all claims, setting disgorgement at more than $350 million in line with the calculation an expert witness called by the state devised.
The judge had also put a ban on President Trump holding a director position in any financial or legal entity in the state for three years or taking out loans from any financial institution chartered in the state, and more limited bans for his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.
Crucially, he extended the third-party monitorship of Trump Organization, with future reviews based on the monitor’s report for additional penalties including the extension of monitorship and even business certificate cancellations.
Defense attorneys argued the judgment was full of “manifold errors,” including the disregard of the statute of limitations set by the appeals court on both claims and disgorgement, the “ridiculously” valuing Mar-a-Lago between $18 million and $27 million, and “a massive disgorgement award in the absence of any evidence that misrepresentations caused the supposedly ill-gotten proceeds.”
“This case has no victims, no damages, and no actual financial losses,” the brief reads. Defendants argue that their business partners—including Deutsche Bank and the Zurich financial group—were “sophisticated” major financial institutions that testified they did their own analyses, were aware of the Trump Organization SFC disclaimers, and would not have changed the terms offered to Trump Organization “in light of the alleged ’misrepresentations’” in the SFCs as the attorney general presented at trial.
The massive figure is not an objective one; the state needed to tease out the portion of profit earned by Trump Organization that would have been a result only of inflated numbers presented on the SFCs.
The state presented an expert who created formulas to calculate the figure, and defense attorneys sought to show through their own expert testimonies that the profits were not “ill-gotten.”
In court filings, the defense also argued that several of these calculations relied on transactions that were outside of the statute of limitations, and faulted the trial court for allowing this. The attorney general had argued that the transactions were, under the continuing wrongs doctrine, distinct violations that each restarted the statute of limitations period, but the appeals court had previously found the doctrine did not apply to this case.
“The proper application of this Court’s previous ruling forecloses over 75 percent of the judgment,” the defense argued.
About $351 million of the disgorgement, after interest, falls outside the statute of limitations, the defense argued. This covers the loans for Trump National Doral Miami, Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point in New York, and Trump International Hotel and Tower Chicago, all in 2012, as well as the Old Post Office building in Washington in 2013.
Yet even with the statute of limitations properly applied, the defense argues there was no show of causation that the alleged misrepresentations on the SFCs resulted in these specific gains.
The case was brought under Executive Law § 63(12) and the defense argued the statutes are “inapplicable to the facts of this case in the first place,” and was “wrongfully relied upon” by both the state attorneys and court. The defense attorneys blasted the attorney general for using cases that had no relation to the Executive Law § 63(12), including one involving attorney disbarment, to argue against a stay of penalties during appeal.
The appeals court had already temporarily stayed some of the nonmonetary penalties ordered, which the defense argued should continue throughout the appeal.
The Clintons and the media’s complete servitude to the democrats have made that a very dim prospect, imo. Just like Alfonse D’amato once said after the Whitewater hearings, “Those people play rough”. Media makes them immune, while the same thing makes us guilty. Gop knows their place.
Never say never with these outlaws.
This is unconstitutional, they’re stripping him of ALL of his rights.
I utterly hate these partisan jackwagons.
This kabuki is beyond absurd.
President Trump should tell the court that he won’t pay, and to arrest and jail him....along with his SS detail.
They impeach him when he’s in office, jail him when he’s not.
And scum like Hunter walk the streets, not a care in the world..
He’ll have little choice. Without a bond, the state will begin attaching his assets. It’s not up to him.
It would be a shame if something happened to the buildings.
Heard him a week or so ago when asked if he is having problems coming up with the Moola for the $450 million. His answer slyly, was “I’ve got money” !!!!
Remember folks, he’s always playing 3D chess.
Keep praying for him and his family AND his total success.
Yes exactly!! This is completely nuts. How is this going on today in this country?? And they called Trump a dictator? This is tyranny biting us right on the ass.
This is a civil case? Who gets the money?
Its communists that you hate. This is a great place without them.
This is a civil case? Who gets the money?
“This is a civil case, so no handcuffs. What it will do is get the properties taken out of his name and they become property of the State of New York.”
So... just the usual Marxist raping and pillaging of their opposition... as they either ignore or crap on the Constitution... and as we continue to allow them to.
The second she takes possession of Trump assets, thousands of employees will lose their jobs.
Then the businesses who provided services to Trump properties will be forced to layoff employees
Finally, Zoo York will instantly become an u investable state.
Good luck
Will Scottish law be invoked?
It’s the old problem of capitalism: Ordinary folks are too busy working hard and being responsible citizens, while the enemies of freedom are busy undermining what makes that possible.
The ordinary folks are the ones making our enemies, the leftists tech companies and media, rich by paying to use their products and services.
For the most part, when they had a choice, it was the ordinary folks who chose made in China over made in USA, thinking only of the short term of saving a few pennies instead of the long term effects of sending our manufacturing, technology, money, and tax base to a communist nation. The companies that tried to stay with American labor had to cave to keep from going out of business. Now, China is building up their military and infrastructure with our money while we needed to raise the debt limit to pay the interest on our loans.
In doing so, those ordinary people chose communist slave labor over their own children and Vets. Now we have a major homeless Vet and Vet suicide problem, and the kids who did the right thing and got training in the tech fields had to watch as those jobs were offshored, and they were stuck with part times jobs saying "Fries with that?".
And you know what? Many of those ordinary people are right here reading this.
Now let's just say by some miracle Trump wins. What good do you think that will do if we don't start taking saving this country seriously?
Does that include the Freepers who supported sending our manufacturing, technology, money, and tax base to a communist nation?
Maybe they are pressured not to?
—
In a sense I suppose, but I suspect it was much like DJT trying to find lawyers - if they take this business, they will lose liberal clients. Same for banks.
Wow — you’re back!!!
.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.