this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2024
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[–] Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world 214 points 8 months ago (7 children)

I actually consider this a very big win for Trump.

Literal decades of fraud that netted him billions in profits and he only has to pay back $300 million.

Little decades of fraud, and he's only banned from being an officer or director for 3 years. He gets to keep everything else.

Once again a very rich person got away with decades of crimes and only had to give back a portion of the profits. $355 million is only a small portion of the money he has made in the past four decades.

Guy should have been forced to cough up the full 375, and then permanently banned from doing any more businesses in the state. Anything else is a gift.

[–] ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca 66 points 8 months ago

I know Trump has done a lot of illegal stuff to make money over the years, but this trial is specifically about the over valuing of his properties in New York state. $300 million and loss of owning and operating businesses in the state, even temporarily, is a huge punishment for what he was on trial for.

If only his many other trials end the same way then maybe he will have faced justice. We'll have to see.

[–] tristan@aussie.zone 60 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'm no expert by any means but I think once he's kicked out of NY, it's going to be pretty difficult for him to get back in.

He also has the court appointed monitor for the next 3 years which he already complained is costing him money (by stopping him from committing more fraud).

On top of that, banks will think twice before doing business with him in the future making it very difficult for him to make money without risking what he already has

While I agree that it should have been much more, I think (well more of a hope) that the long term damage this will do will cost him and his family far more than if he never committed fraud in the first place... Then again, he's shown an amazing ability to avoid consequences this far

[–] Boddhisatva@lemmy.world 28 points 8 months ago (2 children)

He hasn't really been kicked out, though. Has he? He's banned from "serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in New York for a period of three years" but the business certificates were not cancelled. The judge modified his original order from September to vacate the directive to cancel them. That means that when the monitor, who Trump is paying about $186,000/month, is done in three years, he'll be back in control of it all.

[–] tristan@aussie.zone 17 points 8 months ago

Oh... I misunderstood that part then, I thought that part of the order was still in place. That's not as bad for him. My hope is that the monitor digs up a lot more dirt in that time and hands it over, like they did a month or so back

[–] Natanael@slrpnk.net 9 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

He's not allowed to control or direct the company for those 3 years, and the sum of the judgment might be enough to force the company to be sold off

[–] Boddhisatva@lemmy.world 13 points 8 months ago

Maybe, but somehow I don't think it'll play out that way.

I think one of two things will happen with the businesses. First, it may turn out that they owe so much because of the fraudulently acquired loans that they are not really profitable and will end up failing. They simply might not viable without the ongoing fraud. It'll get particularly dicey if the banks Trump and his companies defrauded decide to use the ruling to demand that the loans be immediately repaid. I doubt that will happen, but it'd be fun to watch.

On the other hand, Trump is such a bone head businessman that he could actually be richer if he'd just invested his inheritance in the stock market and not started his own businesses. This is a guy who managed to bankrupt multiple casinos. The saying, the house always wins, apparently doesn't apply when Trump is running the house. Without his tiny, incompetent hands at the wheel, his companies might actually start running more efficiently. Whoever will be running them instead of Trump may just do a better job than him, since they won't be so focused on committing crimes. Trump could actually make more money from them than he would otherwise.

[–] MNByChoice@midwest.social 22 points 8 months ago

Amount is pretty close to what the prosecutor asked for.

[–] Dadifer@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

I think the issue is that the prosecuter was unable to show that anyone was harmed from this fraud, and no company has been dissolved without showing direct harm to consumers in the past.

[–] circuitfarmer@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

Yeah, it's as if they scale penalties over time for the rich just like they scale wages for everyone else

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 2 points 8 months ago

Little decades of fraud

Those are still 10 years each, right? They're not like half-decades?