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Thanks for posting this. One thing I would add is that the decision you cite is from an intermediate appellate court in New York. There is likely to be a further appeal.
Yeah, I am pretty sure the normal process is that (1) people overestimate the value of their collateral; (2) the lender independently appraises the collateral; and (3) nobody (other than Trump) is ever prosecuted or sued by the AG for fraud.
I asked a similar question but I doubt I am going to get an answer. In fact, I'm pretty confident that even flagrant fraud by borrowers is not prosecuted if their is no reliance on that fraud and no damages. So for example, suppose a guy applies for a $5m line of credit with a bank and claims that his salary is $1m per year. The bank is given full access to his tax returns which show that his income is only $600k per year. The loan is ultimately paid in full and on time. Has anyone ever been prosecuted (or sued by the AG) in such a situation? I doubt it.
Yeah, I am skeptical about his characterization of the other cases. I asked him so identify the strongest such case against Trump to avoid any accusations of cherry picking, but as of yet I have not received a response. I think it's pretty likely that his claims would not stand up to scrutiny.
This is something which is regularly brought up by 3 of the 5 judges. These are filthy rich, sophisticated parties negotiating at arm's length with lawyers on both sides of the deal. Each of the statements included broad disclaimers noting this is their opinion, it's not the result of an audit and is not above disagreement and encouraging the other party to do their own due diligence (which they did). The trial court clown Engoron and the 2 appellate judges just handwave this away.
And many of the findings of the court around the Trump organization's properties in question, e.g., MarALago, are completely ridiculous.
And in the context of real estate valuations which are notoriously subjective. If a person thought the value of their property was what they could immediately sell it for then I wouldn't currently own it. There are rampant examples, especially when talking about expensive or unique properties, which sit empty and "overpriced" for significant periods of time until a party comes along and pays the "overpriced" amount because they value it in similar ways to the owner.
there are other enforcement actions under the executive law and recently, but they're not in similar situations which matters because of the way the broadly worded law is written, what it was written for, and the purpose of its existence and broad authority
this was pure political persecution where AG James used the government to force a private business to open all their books and communications for the last decade+, combed through them (while leaking repeatedly to the press), and then crafted a ridiculous, tenuously supported case against a political opponent which she promised she was going to harm
AG James uses her position to harm political opponents through the process of being investigated. She issues endless demands for documents and interviews to people and organizations she doesn't like to harm them with famous examples being the NRA and VDARE. The law is no shield to her victims and instead is used to victimize them.
I find it hard to believe people defending this case or AG James are doing anything other than who/whom analysis and motivation.
Yeah, my general impression is that the people defending James could be characterized (at least in this thread) as "partisan hacks." i.e. the starting point of the analysis is that the Tribe must be defended at all costs and then they marshal whatever facts or argument they can to support that position.
In this thread, I've seen numerous arguments in defense of Letitia James which, as far as I can tell, do not stand up to even mild scrutiny. (For example the claim that anyone would be prosecuted (or sued) by the state over what Trump allegedly did.) It's hard to see why anyone would do this unless they had an "arguments as soldiers" mentality.
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