XPost: alt.atheism, alt.politics.socialist.nazi, alt.politics.trump   
   XPost: seattle.politics   
   From: brock.mcnuggets@gmail.com   
      
   Trump isn't allowed to vote because he's a convicted felon.   
      
   Judge rules accused pedophile and elite Epstein lister Trump defrauded   
   banks and insurers while building real estate empire   
      
   By  MICHAEL R. SISAK   
      
      
   NEW YORK (AP) — A judge ruled Tuesday that Donald Trump committed fraud for   
   years while building the real estate empire that catapulted him to fame and   
   the White House, and he ordered some of the former president’s companies   
   removed from his control and dissolved.   
      
   Judge Arthur Engoron, ruling in a civil lawsuit brought by New York   
   Attorney General Letitia James, found that Trump and his company deceived   
   banks, insurers and others by massively overvaluing his assets and   
   exaggerating his net worth on paperwork used in making deals and securing   
   loans.   
      
   Engoron ordered that some of Trump’s business licenses be rescinded as   
   punishment, making it difficult or impossible for them to do business in   
   New York, and said he would continue to have an independent monitor oversee   
   Trump Organization operations.   
      
   If not successfully appealed, the order would strip Trump of his authority   
   to make strategic and financial decisions over some of his key properties   
   in the state.   
   MORE ON DONALD TRUMP   
   FILE- Attorney Scott Grubman, who is defending Kenneth Chesebro, argues   
   before Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee in Atlanta on Wednesday,   
   Sept. 6, 2023. Past high-profile trials suggest additional scrutiny and   
   stress for the four judges overseeing the indictments against former   
   President Donald Trump. But the challenge facing Fulton County Judge Scott   
   McAfee in Georgia is unlike any of the others. (Jason Getz/Atlanta Journal-   
   Constitution via AP, Pool, File)   
   With cameras capturing every word, the pressure is on for the Georgia judge   
   over Trump’s indictment   
   Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Summerville, S.C.,   
   Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Artie Walker Jr.)   
   Trump lawyers say prosecutors want to ‘silence’ him with gag order in his   
   federal 2020 election case   
   FILE - A woman walks across the street with a flag supporting President   
   Donald Trump during a rally Jan. 6, 2021, in Huntington Beach, Calif. A   
   state GOP rule change has opened the possibility that former President   
   Donald Trump could sweep California’s entire trove of delegates in the   
   March 5 primary, the plumpest prize in the party’s nominating contest. The   
   election falls on Super Tuesday, when California is among more than a dozen   
   states holding primaries and the largest number of delegates are up for   
   grabs of any single day. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)   
   California, a liberal bastion, may give Donald Trump an unlikely boost in   
   2024   
      
   Trump, in a series of statements, railed against the decision, calling it   
   “un-American” and part of an ongoing plot to damage his campaign to return   
   to the White House.   
      
   “My Civil rights have been violated, and some Appellate Court, whether   
   federal or state, must reverse this horrible, un-American decision,” he   
   wrote on his Truth Social site. He insisted his company had “done a   
   magnificent job for New York State” and “done business perfectly,” calling   
   it “A very sad Day for the New York State System of Justice!”   
      
   Trump’s lawyer, Christopher Kise, said they would appeal, calling the   
   decision “completely disconnected from the facts and governing law.”   
      
   Engoron’s ruling, days before the start of a non-jury trial in James’   
   lawsuit, is the strongest repudiation yet of Trump’s carefully coiffed   
   image as a wealthy and shrewd real estate mogul turned political   
   powerhouse.   
      
   Beyond mere bragging about his riches, Trump, his company and key   
   executives repeatedly lied about them on his annual financial statements,   
   reaping rewards such as favorable loan terms and lower insurance costs,   
   Engoron found.   
      
   Those tactics crossed a line and violated the law, the judge said,   
   rejecting Trump’s contention that a disclaimer on the financial statements   
   absolved him of any wrongdoing.   
      
   “In defendants’ world: rent regulated apartments are worth the same as   
   unregulated apartments; restricted land is worth the same as unrestricted   
   land; restrictions can evaporate into thin air; a disclaimer by one party   
   casting responsibility on another party exonerates the other party’s lies,”   
   Engoron wrote in his 35-page ruling. “That is a fantasy world, not the real   
   world.”   
      
   Manhattan prosecutors had looked into bringing criminal charges over the   
   same conduct but declined to do so, leaving James to sue Trump and seek   
   penalties that aim to disrupt his and his family’s ability to do business.   
      
   Engoron’s ruling, in a phase of the case known as summary judgment,   
   resolves the key claim in James’ lawsuit, but several others remain. He’ll   
   decide on those claims and James’ request for $250 million in penalties at   
   a trial starting Oct. 2. Trump’s lawyers have asked an appeals court for a   
   delay.   
      
   “Today, a judge ruled in our favor and found that Donald Trump and the   
   Trump Organization engaged in years of financial fraud,” James said in a   
   statement. “We look forward to presenting the rest of our case at trial.”   
      
   Trump’s lawyers, in their own summary judgment bid, had asked the judge to   
   throw out the case, arguing that there wasn’t any evidence the public was   
   harmed by Trump’s actions. They also argued that many of the allegations in   
   the lawsuit were barred by the statute of limitations.   
      
   Engoron, noting that he had rejected those arguments earlier in the case,   
   equated them to the plot of the film “Groundhog Day.” He fined five defense   
   lawyers $7,500 each as punishment for “engaging in repetitive, frivolous”   
   arguments, but denied James’ request to sanction Trump and other   
   defendants.   
      
   James, a Democrat, sued Trump and the Trump Organization a year ago,   
   accusing them of routinely inflating the value of assets like skyscrapers,   
   golf courses and his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, padding his bottom line   
   by billions.   
      
   Engoron found that Trump consistently overvalued Mar-a-Lago, inflating its   
   value on one financial statement by as much as 2,300%. The judge also   
   rebuked Trump for lying about the size of his Manhattan apartment. Trump   
   claimed his three-story Trump Tower penthouse was nearly three times its   
   actual size, valuing it at $327 million.   
      
   “A discrepancy of this order of magnitude, by a real estate developer   
   sizing up his own living space of decades, can only be considered fraud,”   
   Engoron wrote.   
      
   On X in the wake of the ruling, Eric Trump insisted his father’s claims   
   about Mar-a-Lago were correct, writing that the Palm Beach estate is   
   “speculated to be worth well over a billion dollars making it arguably the   
   most valuable residential property in the country.” He called the ruling   
      
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