The Art Of The Steal

So wrote Arthur Engoron, a New York State judge, in an unexpected ruling late yesterday that threatens the heart of Donald Trump’s business empire. Engoron was referring in particular to arguments offered by the former president’s attorneys in the case, but his words describe many of the details of the case—such as the valuations of Trump’s properties and even the square footage he claimed they contained, both of which the court found were “clearly” fraudulent. Much of the reputation Trump cultivated as a business mogul was built on lies. The surprise is not that Trump and his co-defendants, including his sons Donald Jr. and Eric, committed fraud. What is surprising is that he could finally be punished for it—and quite harshly. The scheme that New York Attorney General Letitia James alleged last year was simple. When Trump wanted to lower his taxes, he’d claim a low valuation for a property. When he wanted to get cheap loans, he would inflate the valuation. This allowed him to inflate his claimed net worth each year, which let him obtain loans on better terms by personally guaranteeing them. Evidence of this pattern had already turned up in reporting, especially by WNYC and ProPublica, and James’s case offered much more.

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