Posted on 03/27/2024 11:02:53 AM PDT by TigerClaws
Jon Stewart is facing online backlash after the comedian opined on air this week that Donald Trump’s civil real estate case for overvaluing his properties was “not victimless” — when it turns out the price of a previous home sale finds Stewart doing the exact same thing, The Post has learned.
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This has never been prosecuted,” O’Leary replied. In response, Stewart asked: “How is he not this mad about overvaluations in the real world?” “Because they are not victimless crimes,” he said. To further his point, Stewart argued that “money isn’t infinite. A loan that goes to the liar doesn’t go to someone who’s giving a more honest evaluation. So the system becomes incentivized for corruption.”
Stewart also contended that failing to declare a higher market value on a property, while paying taxes based on a lower assessed value, constitutes fraudulent behavior. “The attorney general of New York knew that Trump’s property values were inflated because when it came time to pay taxes, Trump undervalued the very same properties,” Stewart added. “It was all part of a very specific real estate practice known as lying.” But it didn’t take long for internet sleuths to look into Stewart’s own property history, which shows an overvaluation of his New York City penthouse by a staggering 829%, records confirmed by The Post show. In 2014, Stewart sold his 6,280-square-foot Tribeca duplex to financier Parag Pande for $17.5 million. The property’s asking price at that time is not available in listing records. But according to 2013-2014 assessor records obtained by The Post, the property was market-valued at only $1.882 million. The actual assessor valuation was even lower, at $847,174. .
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I would think that anyone with the money to buy high-end properties is also in a position to get the best advice possible about the property’s true value. Similarly, a bank has experts who valuate property before loans are made. Moreover, no one is forced to buy any property or make any kind of loan based on a property’s evaluation. Stewart is full of crap.
This is what happens with the government interferes with the voluntary cooperation between buyer and sellers in the market economy.
The Free Market Economy free from gov’t interference is “The Wealth of Nations” (Adam Smith, 1776).
Gov’t Command and Control Economy is the Road to Serfdom (Hayek, 1944).
Does John Stewart Liebowitz really think banks take people’s word for it when valuing their property???? How stupid does he think we are?
Banks would go out of business in no time if they took people’s word for valuations.
Obviously they have their own teams of experts who estimate the value of any collateral put up for a loan. They don’t give the slightest damn what the customer claims its worth. All they care about is what THEY estimate its worth. Big banks are sophisticated entities.
DUH!
Obviously nobody loaned Trump a plug nickel based on his self professed value of his property. Obviously they did their own research.
This is the lawsuit they filed against Trump:
https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/tto_complaint.pdf
Here’s the NY AG’s whistleblower portal:
https://ag.ny.gov/i-want/use-whistleblower-portal
But a New York attorney could file on behalf of New York (speak to an actual attorney to verify) and get a % of the fine. Be interesting to read them use the same defenses Trump is arguing.
What a bland looking place.
They have appraisers who are licensed and who face liability if they do b.s. inflated appraisals.
But the assessed value is what New York is arguing is the true value and the “fraud” is using an appraised value vs. the assessed value. You can see the lawsuit (linked above by me).
It’s insane and basically allows the AG of New York to destroy anyone as pretty much all business owners and property owners don’t use the assessor value to get a home or business loan.
Find the top Trump-hating Dems in New York and do this due diligence. They’ll all use the same defense Trump did and New York State will have to admit so or the dozen Dems would face similar fines.
Only someone who knows NOTHING about how real estate financing works or just hates Trump to the point they don’t care about law or reason would agree with what New York is doing here.
I’ve posted this before. I realize it is anecdotal, but I don’t think it is that unusual. My house and 4 1/2 acres of land is officially assessed at $19,600 for purposes of paying real estate tax. Zillow estimates the property to be worth $225,000. According to Stewart, if I borrowed $100,000 on the value of my house, I’d be ‘depriving an honest person’ of a loan. And according to Letitia, I’d be committing fraud and subject to outrageous fines.
Happily, I don’t live in New York.
Why is this jackass trying to blame Trump for the tax assessor’s valuation of the property? The owner as NO input into the assessor’s valuation.
I have been a homeowner for 40 years, and in NONE of those years has the assessed value been as high as the market value. There are reasons for this, but the homeowner’s opinion is not one of them.
Shhhh. Logic and facts will not be tolerated. False equivalency however will be encouraged.
At the end of the day the banks in question all did their due diligence (as you’d expect) and they decided Trump was worth the risk. He got the loans and he paid them all back with interest. End of story.
Yea but he’s a leftist in good standing. This report is just to remind him why it’s important to remain in good standing.
The real problem with Capitalism is that the government keeps getting in the way.
“Someone should file a whistleblower lawsuit against “Stewart” on behalf of the state of New York asking for the same fraud fines Trump got.”
Unfortunately the AG is the only one with standing to sue under the statute Trump was sued under. No one else can bring it on the State’s behalf.
Stewart has full faith in the government's assessment of value?
Does Stewart know that the 6,280-square-foot Tribeca duplex that he just sold for $17.5 million was worth the same amount as President Trump's Mar-a-Lago complex in Florida according to the stat of New York?
-PJ
I am absolutely amazed that anyone is amazed that this is the way real estate works. Banks ALWAYS get an appraisal on a property if it is to be used as collateral on a loan.
Have you ever applied for a mortgage? One where there was a hold-up in the process while the bank was obtaining an appraisal? It matters not a whit that you think a property is worth $X. What matters is what the appraisal says it’s worth, and how much of that value you’re intending to borrow. If the property “won’t appraise”, that means the appraised value is insufficient to meet the requirements of the lender.
In fact, in the lending business, there are things called “conforming loans”. These are loans that meet all the metrics and comparative criteria to be packaged and sold with other loans. Things like “loan-to-value” are considered, so you don’t end up with more value in a loan than a property is worth. (So if a borrower defaults, the lender gets its money back through a foreclosure sale.)
Trump didn’t defraud ANY lender. He said the properties were worth $X. But he also said, “don’t trust my numbers - do your own due-diligence”. And the banks did. They did their own appraisals, and only lent what they felt worth the risk. NO FRAUD.
New York Greatly Expands Tax Whistleblower Law
Under an amendment recently signed into law, a whistleblower may now bring a case against an individual or entity which allegedly concealed or avoided and obligation to pay tax, regardless of whether a return or any other statement was filed.
Tell that to the Federal Reserve. Or the Zimbabwe printing presses.
I have been saying this exact same thing should be done to EVERY liberal and every DA involved!
hang them by their own petards!
I wonder what an investigation of Leticia and the judge’s own property would turn up?
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