Enjoy the New York Times headline in all its glory:
A New York judge on Friday handed Donald J. Trump a crushing defeat in his civil fraud case, finding the former president liable for conspiring to manipulate his net worth and ordering him to pay a penalty of $355 million that could wipe out his entire stockpile of cash. …
… Not only did Justice Engoron impose a three-year ban preventing Mr. Trump from serving in top roles at any New York company, including his own, but the judge also applied that punishment to the former president’s adult sons for two years and ordered that they pay more than $4 million each. One of the sons, Eric Trump, is the Trump Organization’s de facto chief executive, and the ruling throws into doubt whether any member of the family can run the business in the near term.
In his unconventional style, Justice Engoron criticized Mr. Trump and the other defendants for refusing to admit errors for years. “Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological,” he said.
Here’s the fun part:
Mr. Trump will appeal the financial penalty — which could climb to $400 million or more once interest is added — but will have to either come up with the money or secure a bond within 30 days. The ruling will not render him bankrupt, because most of his wealth is tied up in real estate.
It’s not clear to me that he could get a bond. Note that interest rates will be applied.
I’m watching MSNBC, and they’re explaining that Trump’s New York businesses will remain in business, but won’t be run by anybody named “Trump” or associated with Trump. The state has an interest in maintaining the value of the properties in case they have to be liquidated down the road.
Update: The amount to be paid by all Trumps collectively for the fraud case is more than $450 million, which includes “disgorgement and pre-judgment interest.” He’s yet to come up with the cash or bond to appeal the second E. Jean Carroll suit, never mind the new one. Does he have the cash available to pull this together? Doubtful. He was already on track for a cash crunch by July because of his legal fees. Could he get a bond? Questionable. If he starts selling assets and properties now, everyone is going to know why.
He’s going to try to squeeze the RNC for as much as he can get. His daughter-in-law Lara Trump, whom he wants as second-in-command of the RNC, has declared that “every single penny” of RNC funds will go to Trump if she has anything to say about it. You downballot folks are on your own .
That aught to keep Tump on his toes. Seems he is going to need to tighten up his game.
I'm glad Uday and Qusay each got tagged for 4 million apiece.
I'm extremely pleased with Engoron's ruling. Mostly for the incisive and appropriate takedowns of the fraudulent claims of innocence spouted daily by TFG. Talking heads are understandably pointing out that the financial penalties along with the prohibitions and baby-sitters will hurt the white collar crime business severely, but I'm not holding out much hope that the money part will be enough. He won't be able to post the amount into escrow, or even get a reputable bonding company in the US to put up a bond for appeal. But I'm sure he can find a non-publicly-traded private equity firm that will spot him the money. I don't know, maybe his daughter knows a guy.
There's always Putin and his oligarchs.
Yup. And I imagine there are a variety of international criminals looking around for a washing machine… VOILA!
THE FAN FINALLY HIT THE SHIT!!!!!
The word "disgorgement" was used in the article, referring to restitution from tRUMP's many, many crimes.
When I hear the word "disgorgement" in connection with tRUMP, I immediately get a mental picture of a hippo-sized tRUMP puking up the burnt steaks and ketchup, buckets of KFC, and the bags and bags of Big Macs and fries he just had for his most recent meal.
Can you blame me?!?
Whenever I hear tRUMP's name, I want to puke myself!!!!!
Did Putin break into your "Twit-filter," maha?
I say that because just a few minutes ago, two of my comments were made to "disappear" like dissidents in Russia."
There seems to be a weird delay in posting things. I don't know why.
Pay up sucker!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZx_TokIHdI
He's gonna need a bigger "DONATE" button.
The order also leaves a person in place for years (3 or 5, I forget) to oversee the assets. Trump will put in a stooge, or several, but they will be operating under a microscope with an opportunity to reflect that Weisleberg also got nicked for a million. If the new management ignores the rules, they will feel the heat. They also can't say that they were following Trump's orders because Trump can't issue orders.
The total comes to a half-billlion that Trump has to come up with if you include E. Jean Carroll. The clock recently started ticking on Carroll because the clock starts upon the judge issuing the written verdict. I think that happened this week. The clock won't start on this for a few days at least unless Engoron has it ready to go.
Hypothetically, if you got a secured bond of a half-billion and were paying interest at 12% per year (or 1% per month) the interest alone is 5 million per MONTH. Now the Times article suggests the $355 million would wipe out Trump's entire available cash.
I'd liken the situation to a quarterback getting sacked for a 20-yard loss that puts the punter out of field goal range. It's not game over but it's a nasty setback. Trump will either have to hock the crown jewels and dig deep to pay interest OR completely empty all cash reserves while he's bleeding cash to lawyers in all the criminal cases. The RNC has not done well in fund-raising – I don't see that as an unlimited source of funds. But it will hurt the Republicans in the election.
Oh, a small note – the civil trial(s) against Trump for J6 can proceed. How fast, I don't know but scheduling is not an issue. Trump is not required to attend a civil suit so it can overlap any criminal proceeding. Being a one-man crime spree was fun three years ago – it's becoming very expensive now.
We may know in days if Willis survived. And in the same timetable, we may know what the USSC will do with the J6 trial.
In order to appeal the verdict he will have to either place the total amount in escrow (I believe) or he will have to post an Appeal Bond. From my younger days, I know something about surety bonds. Perhaps this is known to many of y'all, but in case you didn't know, the here's what a surety bond is: It is a three party obligation. The principal is the party that needs to post the bond as a guarantee of performance. The obligee is the party that due or owed something and whose interest is protected by the bond. The surety is the company that provides the bond to guarantee to the obligee that the principal will meet the obligation. In this case, TFG would be the principal and the State of NY would be the obligee. If he can get it a bonding company is the surety.
The way these things work is that the principal pays a premium to the surety company to provide the bond to the obligee. The bond is a written contract obligation. The surety company gets to keep the premium amount regardless of what happens. If the principal meets the obligation then we're done. However if the principal fails to meet the obligation in whole or in part, then the surety company pays the obligee the amount of money owed to the obligee (the bond amount minus the partial amount paid to the obligee by the principal). Thus the Obligee is made whole at the time the obligation is due.
Here's the twist: Surety premiums are typically a fraction of the face amount of the bond. Why? Because surety companies don't just hand these things out willy nilly. The principal has to apply for the bond and provide his/her financial data; whatever data is required by the Surety, which uses that information to decide whether or not to provide the bond, what the premium will be, and how much collateral will need to be provided to the Surety by the principal. Then if the principal defaults, the Surety takes possession of the collateral, and is entitled to collect any remaining amount from the principal, by court ordered payments, garnishing, liens on other assets, etc.
All of this is generally true of surety bonds. I don't know if appeal bonds include additional penalties if the principal defaults. The only reason I wonder about that is because the underlying obligation here (a court judgment) seems to me to have more weight than some general contracts that often require bonds but which are not in response to an already concluded court procedure. If someone has been ordered by a court verdict to pay someone x dollars, there ought to be disincentives to having the principal file an appeal just to delay having to pay, and then when the appeal fails, the principal refuses to pay leading to another legal action. Maybe in appeal bonds the collateral required is typically most of the judgment amount.
FWIW, I'm not a lawyer, nor a broad surety expert. Just had some time in a surety department, so had to learn the basics. There are many many different types of bonds, and each type has its peculiarities.
Imagine being a Surety company being asked to put up a bond for someone who was just found liable for using fraudulent financial data. Is it even worth the risk trusting any numbers that Trump provides?
"Disgorgement"
So Judge Engoron determined Stump needs a little Disgorgement! I like the sound of that! The real beauty of this judgement and the previous E. Jean money is that even if we as a country are dumb enough to put that (as Swami would say) big fat lying bag of shit back in the W.H. he still has to fork over the cheese. Again pay up sucker!
Disgorgement in Trump's case could be considered a fiscal enema for the Trump org.
Yeah – but if you're a star you can do anything!
Lately I can't forget that picture of the rapist waxing nostalgic about "Alphonse Capone." Just desserts.
When a tower of lies falls does it make any noise at all?
Is it a surprise that the judge found a total lack of contrition or remorse that borders on pathological? It is to me. I see it as in the bull's eye of pathological.
Did anyone guess that the Donald would only find fault in those "outside" his cult in his post ruling response? Sure Donnie, your accounting is perfect and the judge is a crook and America is off the rails. Whatever reality you need to bend to make all this fit in your brain you just bend it. Try this jacket on while you are doing that if you would.
Has anyone had a Melania sighting?
What did the House do to deserve a vacation?
Noise? I expect there is enough screaming and banging of thrown objects emanating from Maga-Lardo to be detected by any US Navy sonar vessel operating in that vicinity.
I'd bet that the Mongolian Navy can detect that noise…
Trump spent his entire "business" career, losing daddy's money, stiffing mom and pop contractors and the US Treasury, and STILL went bankrupt six times. He's ran an airline, pro football team and league, and casinos that do nothing but rake in cash, into the ground. And has lost every election since the fluke of 2016. Trumps business IS losing.
Even still, Trump in true con man fashion, tells the rubes, “You’re going to win so much you’ll get tired of winning!”
LOL!!!
Demands NATO countries pay up!
I do love Judge Engoron's delicate but legal way of calling the whole bunch of them sociopaths.
Tucker, "Hey I got the ball lazer machine fired up, you wanna come over for a sesh?"
Donald, "Nah, I'm good."
Yesterday after the Engoron decision came out I saw TFG, in his best Republican business suit (w/red tie) bravely venture out upon the front steps of Mar a Lago to explain to his supporters. To me he seemed rather desperate, even panicked, reaching for tired phrases to repeat, making himself do the hand movements recommended by TV consultants, pausing as if done and then starting up with more of the same tired stuff that has people at his rallies walking out early due to boredom. Is it just me?
I hope the Dems are working hard on a backup plan to run against Haley. I'm starting to smell a bait and switch scheme. Nikki raised her hand at the first repub debate to indicate she would pardon Trump. And she defended that publicly when questioned on it. Also she has been hitting Biden a lot too. She's positioned to become the candidate if TFG's baggage gets too heavy. Does anyone know where she stands on Ukraine?
Let's make sure that tRump pays taxes on any monies from the RNC or Go Fund me programs. Isn't that required by IRS code??