New York’s Trump Fraud Findings Refute Judge’s Conclusions: And the entire New York real estate market is noticing with justifiable alarm.

Last week, a New York court issued judgments against Donald J. Trump and his sons, asserting violation of state anti-fraud law in connection with several real estate mortgage loans. The judgments, which aggregate $355 million and may escalate to $454 Million or more, shocked Republicans and Democrats alike and stunned the national real estate community. It was immediately apparent that something was wildly wrong, since the Trump transactions were nothing unusual or remarkable for the real estate industry.

Essential Requirements for Claims of Fraud

The case primarily involves applications for mortgage loans submitted by Trump entities to major federal banks. The state of New York claims that Trump, in connection with such loans, committed repeated fraudulent and illegal acts. The judge acknowledges that common law fraud (also known as “misrepresentation”) requires a finding of five elements: (1) A material statement of fact (not opinion), (2) falsity, (3) knowledge of the falsity, (4) justifiable reliance by the alleged victim, and (5) damages. Although the judge apparently concludes that all of the elements have been proven, it is quite obvious that none, let alone all, of the required elements of fraud and misrepresentation was proven.

Material Statement of Fact: Most of the 92-page document relates to alleged false statements in so-called Statements of Financial Condition (SFCs), which were schedules of values allocated to various Trump properties. Values, by their nature, are opinions (not facts) and therefore cannot serve as a basis for a claim of fraud.
Falsity: The Statements of Financial Condition were merely statements of opinion submitted by the proposed borrowers and guarantor(s) and, thus, were neither true nor false.
Knowledge of the Falsity: The proposed borrowers knew that the SFCs were schedules of opinions as to values, were subject to debate, and were neither true nor false.

But wait! There’s more.

If you list ypu home as an asset for $500K and the market tanks so that when you sell it only sells for $450K, you can be prosecuted for fraud.

Mira Lago is worth $100M an acre as a residential lot. Because Trump designated it as a club for tax purposes, the land use valuation for tax purposes dropped to $18M in total. If he redesignated that land back to residential use through the tax office to sell individual acres, the land use valuation for tax purposes would shoot back up to $100M.

The land’s value didn’t change, only the land use designation.

James and the Judge knew this. This was a twisted railroad job directed solely at Trump and could catch a lot of developers in the net.

If I was a developer, I would move the hell out of NY.

I’m glad the stalinists have chosen lawfafe against President Trump.

They’ve made a mockery of America showing liberty , rights and freedom have been hijacked for the regime’s agenda.... Getting rid of the opposition.

They’ve also effected thoughts that no one and their property is safe, not a y individual involved in mortgages being both lenders and borrowers.

This is a stalinist attack on capitalism and political opponents.

The flag of the hammer and sickle is going to replace the torch on the statue of liberty.
Good going, you Obamanites, you fools of NYC!

Some of this legal and real estate stuff can be confusing, so I'll see if I can clear things up.

If Trump lied to banks about the values of his property and the truth is his properties aren't worth a crap, and you also support NY AG Letita James' proposal to confiscate Trump's property to pay off the half a billion in fines the courts have recently put onto Trump ... you might be a Democrat.

“the entire nature of loan transactions will need wholesale realignment, at great expense to both borrower and lender.”

Absolutely. And it harms the lenders more than the borrowers. They would much rather loan out and collect INTEREST on 10 million dollars than on 2 million dollars no matter what the true value is. This is a big threat to the gross revenues financial institutions are used to working with as cash flow. In an economy where they cannot afford this hit. The financial institutions should be deep in this event screaming bloody murder.

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