Posted originally on Mar 25, 2024 By Martin Armstrong
COMMENT: Marty, you are one hell of a strategic lawyer. The NY Supreme Court either reads you or realizes that this AG will bankrupt the city if she starts seizing property and Trump wins in the appellate courts. It’s just brilliant. Let them sell his properties that will collapse in price and then sue for the original value.
You should be on our board.
All the best
UT
ANSWER: The New York State Supreme Court is probably getting negative feedback from the major banks and companies in NYC. I can confirm that people are exiting NYC because of this case. I would have preferred that they seized the property, sold it for $1, and then I would own NYC for a song. It was the perfect hedge. They would become liable for the maximum value so that it would have been selling at the top, and the government would have been the buyer.
As they say, you must be VERY careful about what you wish for.
They were trying to consume all of his cash to drain his ability to run in the 2024 election
Posted originally on the CTH on March 25, 2024 | Sundance
The New York State appeals court waited until the last minute to intervene and rule substantial modifications to the lower court ruling. [SEE pdf Here]
The timing here is transparently political. The court could have intervened earlier with this decision but appears to have preferred to allow the Lawfare narrative the maximum amount of time to permeate the anti-Trump news cycle. However, faced with the reality of a full appellate review later this year collapsing and reversing the underlying case, the NY court had few options other than timing their intervention.
The appeals court lowered the bond amount to the maximum possible in real terms. Meaning the demand for a $454 million bond was never sustainable, explainable, or legally comprehensible under all precedent. In reality it was an impossible bond for any organization to obtain, and ultimately that issue was going to lead to massive legal consequences within the New York state legal system. They might hate Trump, but without intervention New York would be collapsing their corporate business structure.
The lower court ruling was stayed, and the bond was lowered to an obtainable $175 million for the appeal. The lower court ruling against Trump organization officers was also stayed, allowing the corporate leadership of the various Trump organization LLCs to remain as they are. All of the substantive elements of Judge Engoron’s verdict were stayed, pending appeal.
Attorney General Letitia James was left only with a public relations narrative to sell, saying in part, “the $464 million judgment — plus interest — against Donald Trump and the other defendants still stands.” Duh, pending appeal – which is transparently obvious and the point therein.
Once again, Lawfare at its root is a narrative weapon used primarily to sway public opinion. AG James statement in response to the appeals court intervention is essentially an affirmation of this reality.
Appearing in New York to defend against another Lawfare operation, President Trump spoke briefly to the media after the ruling was made public.
The hardline leftists always end up with a case of the ‘outcome sads’, because they do not accept the nature of Lawfare intent. However, the non-sheeple democrats and independents are eyes-wide-open to how this Lawfare nonsense works. Hence, President Trump climbing in the polling.
“It’s the beginning of the end.” or “The walls are closing in.” or, “__ fill in the blank __.”
Politico – […] The ruling — issued by a panel of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court — means the civil fraud case could remain effectively frozen through the November election. The panel told Trump’s lawyers to prepare his case to be presented at the court’s September term, and any decision on the merits of the appeal could take weeks or months. (More)
Posted originally on the CTH on March 24, 2024 | Sundance
Eric Trump runs the day-to-day operations of the Trump organization. Today Eric Trump appeared with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the ongoing battle with the state of New York as Attorney General Letitia James threatens to seize Trump assets. WATCH:
Posted originally on the CTH on March 22, 2024 | Sundance
The Eighth Amendmentprohibits cruel and unusual punishments, but also mentions “excessive fines” and bail. The “excessive fines” clause surfaces (among other places) in cases of civil and criminal forfeiture. [TEXT and SOURCE]
In New York state, Attorney General Letitia James, in coordination with New York Judge Arthur Engoron, are seeking to continue the targeting of President Donald Trump with a series of financial judgements, penalties and control mechanisms intended to isolate the leading 2024 Republican presidential candidate from his wealth.
As if something akin to the John Galt character in Atlas Shrugged was coming to life, no American individual has ever faced this level of intentional weaponization of power. If the state appellate court does not intervene, I predict a federal judge will have to get involved. The reason is simple; the State of New York is clearly violating the 8th Amendment, and despite the compromised judiciary, the scale of overreach is even beyond the ability of the pretending judicial system to overlook it.
Perhaps, oddly, despite my intense anger toward these creatures of corruption, I fear not for the final outcome. I fully accept that a righteous and loving God has favor upon Mr. Trump, and there is a protection around him. It is a feeling, a sense about things, that is difficult to explain beyond, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper.”
NEW YORK – The New York attorney general’s office has filed judgments in Westchester County, the first indication that the state is preparing to try to seize Donald Trump’s golf course and private estate north of Manhattan, known as Seven Springs.
State lawyers entered the judgments with the clerk’s office in Westchester County on March 6, just one week after Judge Arthur Engoron made official his $464 million decision against Trump, his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization.
[…] Trump now has four days to satisfy the judgment or sway an appeals court to allow him to post a smaller amount or defer posting the payment until after the appeal.
[…] The attorney general’s office on Wednesday said that it’s common for large companies to post billion-dollar bonds and suggested Trump should have posted real estate with the court.
“The suggestion is both impractical and unjust. The Attorney General cites no New York case law to support this contention. In any event, from the perspective of risk, the Attorney General’s proposal of a ‘court-appointed officer’ to ‘hold real estate’ is functionally equivalent to what Supreme Court has already imposed through the requirement of a court-appointed monitor to oversee Defendants’ business operations,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
[…] “By demanding an undertaking in the full amount of the judgment in order to appeal, the Attorney General and Supreme Court have sought to impose a patently unreasonable, unjust, and unconstitutional (under both the Federal and New York State Constitutions) bond condition,” they wrote.
[…] Thursday, Engoron expanded the role of the monitor overseeing the Trump Organization to include more expansive oversight of Trump’s real estate business’ internal financial practices.
[…] “The Trump Organization shall inform the monitor, in advance, of any efforts to secure surety bonds, including any financial disclosures requested or required, any information provided in response to such requests, any representations made by Trump Organization in connection with securing such bonds any personal guarantees made by any of the defendants, and any obligations of the Trump Organization required by the surety,” the judge ordered.
Engoron laid out a timeline of certain steps the Trumps must take within the next month, including providing the monitor, retired Judge Barbara Jones, with full access to its day-to-day financial operations. (more)
Keep in mind, the original civil charge against President Trump revolves around inverting a state statute intended to protect the consumer from predatory lending. To construct her case, AG James had to reverse the statute and make President Trump a predatory borrower, despite the lenders saying they had no issue with the paperwork used by President Trump to secure reconciled bank loans.
All the banks and lenders did their own due diligence on the financing in question. All operational loans and business loans were paid back. There were no defaults or banking interests adversely impacted. There are no victims of what the State calls “fraud,” yet activist judge Engoron ruled against Donald Trump and triggered a fine of nearly half a billion dollars.
Additionally, New York Attorney General Latisha James campaigned for office with promises to target the Trump Organization and Donald Trump himself. This is transparent and malicious Lawfare in the extreme, and every member of the legal profession, sans ideological leftists/communists, calls it exactly that.
As a reminder, the United States has two tiers of justice and the current administration may be the most corrupt in the history of the United States. This is why it is concerning that the Biden Administration wants to seize private enterprise and permit the government to assign its value through a perversion of Article V of the Constitution.
Hunter Biden’s artwork is estimated to be worth up to $500,000. His personal friend Kevin Morris purchased a few pieces and also gave him a loan of $2 million to cover Hunter’s late tax payments. Most of his buyers remain anonymous, but the known art collectors are all associated with the DNC. Hirsh Naftali, for example, was appointed by Joe Biden to be the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad after he expressed interest in his son’s artwork.
The corrupt NY justice system claims Mar-a-Lago, a 126-room, 62,500-square-foot mansion located on 20 acres of land in a prime area of Palm Beach, Florida, is worth under $30 million.
Trump purchased the property in 1995 for $10 million and turned it into a private club. It is the only private club to attain the prestigious 6-Star Diamond Award from the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences. Neighboring real estate that is the size of the parking lot at Mar-a-Lago and does not contain the prestige or glamorous interior detail has sold for hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years. A 2.3-acre plot of land with no structures at 1063/1071 N. Ocean Blvd. is on the market for a sky-high $200 million, as reported by the NY Post. 1980 S. Ocean Blvd., a 5-minute drive from Mar-a-Lago on only 2 acres is also listed for $150 million, or three Hunter Biden paintings.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told real estate developers that they have “nothing to worry about,” as they are only targeting one man at the moment.
“I think that this is really an extraordinary, unusual circumstance that the law-abiding and rule-following New Yorkers who are business people have nothing to worry about, because they’re very different than Donald Trump and his behavior,” Hochul responded to reporters.
It is overtly obvious that this trial is a deliberate attempt to arrest the Democrat’s only political opponent and revoke our Constitutional right to vote for our candidate of choice. Again, we must be extremely cautious of what the Biden-Harris regime is attempting to do with the Bayh–Dole Act or Patent and Trademark Law Amendments Act as the government can and will seize anything they can to pay off their debt and value it at next to nothing.
Posted originally on Feb 22, 2024 By Martin Armstrong
COMMENT: Hi Martin.
Thanks for the “astute lawyer” compliment. That was very nice, and coming from you, it is very meaningful to me.
The Epoch Times headline in your “NYC Out of Control” post calls the dollar part of the verdict against the Trumps a “penalty.” It has also been called a “fine,” but I haven’t yet seen it called “damages” in a headline. I think Hochul, Engoron, and James know that the amount was based on a damage assessment and calculation that may not hold up. New York Executive Law § 63(12) clearly reads that the attorney general “may apply…for an order…directing restitution and damages…”. [Emphasis mine.]
New York proved math calculations, not actual damages, where the damaged party had to be made whole. Had the statute recited a list of fines, they’d probably be in a more sound position, but their position now is what I would call “too dicey for comfort.” I would seize nothing in this situation because there are too many cases of improper seizures to worry about. The verdicts against those who seize property in error or improperly or hastily in a flawed or tainted case are many times larger than the amount of the money judgment used to seize and sell the property of the defendant.
Furthermore, if New York has someone running the Trump businesses, and should he or she destroy or damage the businesses, the state could be liable for many, many times the amount of the verdict/judgment against the Trump family. Trump could wind up seizing the state capitol, the governor’s residence, etc., plus having his property returned to him. I’ve seen this happen. Once, the State of Louisiana overreached, and once, the U.S. government was a litigant against a billionaire oil man, banker, and friend who could not get the IRS to return his multi-million dollar overpayment of taxes. He finally had enough, and he seized the Hale Boggs Federal Court Building. He got his money a day later.
Perhaps by dancing around exactly what legal principle the amount of the money verdict/judgment is based on (i.e., damages, fines, penalties [i.e., a payment imposed as punishment], whatever), the Hochul, Engoron, James enterprise has walked into a trap. The Eighth Amendment prohibits excessive fines. If they maintain the amount is absolutely based on the principle of damages, how can they show a diminution of the state being “whole” (or “wholeness” if you will) owing to Trump’s actions with third parties. If they maintain the amount of the verdict/judgment is based on a properly enacted and published fine or penalty, then they must face the Eighth Amendment.
In my opinion, Hochul, Engoron, and James are whistling past the graveyard. They have put their careers on the line, and the dice are tumbling.
Best regards, and thanks again.
EGM
REPLY: This is so political it smells, and just because this Judge, who is not qualified to judge a turtle race, simply decrees, they think they are God, and everyone must bow down to them and kiss their ring. It is so rare to find a decent judge in New York. Judge Lawrence McKenna saw what they were doing and tried to protect me. The government went to the Chief Judge to remove him and then sealed the record.
The DA belongs in prison with the governor and this disgusting judge. This DA is bragging that she will now seize Trump Tower. When the computer projected that the 2024 election would be intermixed with serious civil unrest and that neither side would ever accept the outcome, as we draw closer and closer to this date with destiny, it is looking very, very dark indeed.
The computer is projecting a panic cycle in September, rising volatility in October, and October will be a critical turning point heading into the 2024 election. We should no longer have the motto – Gold Bless America – it should be changed to – God Save America. These LEFTIST are destroying the very foundation of law; without that, civilization can no longer exist. That is the testimony of history – not my opinion.
NEW YORK IS DOOMED
Bond investors have piled into New York City’s tax-exempt bonds, lured by their relatively high yields. However, with a $7 billion budget deficit spiraling costs of sheltering asylum seekers and other migrants that have sought refuge in New York on top of this collapse in the rule of law, NYC is a sell – not a buy. Wall Street profits are declining, and with them, there are looming job cuts at major investment banks. Many are migrating to Florida, which puts pressure on city tax revenue. New York’s fiscal outlook is a disaster. That suggests the city’s general obligation bonds aren’t particularly attractive at current valuations – they are a sell.
NYC is totally out of control. These bogus charges were never brought against anyone, and there was no victim. This definition of fraud can be applied now to anyone in NYC. This is obviously an attempt to interfere in the 2024 election, for if Trump had not run for president, there would have been no such charges.
New York is just so UNAMERICAN you can’t make this up. This radical Attorney General not only has Trump BARRED from running his own company, but they also appointed a former organized-crime prosecutor to manage the Trump Organization who has no business capability. The state is attempting to seize total control of the financial assets of Trump without a jury trial to shut him down to prevent him from running for office. Trump was denied the right to defend himself before a jury. They did that to my company, fired all the staff, and then moved to shut it down. Then their appointed receiver became a board member of Goldman Sachs while running my company from their boardroom. This was also all without any right to a jury trial.
This is so outrageous; I fear that Trump’s case will be the catalyst for the decline and fall of the United States. We cannot possibly stand united as a nation under such an outrageous legal system. When the rule of law collapses like this, no nation has ever survived long throughout history. We now can see 2032 coming and why the computer has forecast that there may not even be a 2028 election. They need to stop Trump because they are taking us to War, canceling the paper money, and taxing everything we do for climate change. At the same time, the WHO orders lockdowns and mandatory vaccines as they surrender our sovereignty.
New York City is Completely Out of Control
The integrity of assets is seriously under question. My sincere advice to Trump is to sell all of your NYC assets and get the HELL OF NYC! Nobody should invest in anything in New York City, for there is no rule of law and, even worse, no separation of powers. It is a political dictatorship that you cannot fight for. NO judge in New York City will defend the Constitution and go against their peers.
While truckers known as Chicago Ray started calling on truckers to boycott NYC, all they have to do is target someone, and they will routinely use taxes to go after innocent people as well as journalists if they do not cooperate. Chicago Ray has backed down yet, claiming, “No one’s got to me … I heard what drivers were saying, and I’m hearing some of that today; I ain’t scared of s–t.” I met a former executive from the NY Post who they put in prison because he would not yield to the Deep State. He explained they call with a “favor,” and if you do not comply. They come after you personally. In his case, they claimed he hired people who did not show up to work. New York City is beyond hope.
SELL NEW YORK NOW
I warned that Trump would NEVER get a fair trial in New York City – I have NEVER seen anyone EVER get a fair trial in New York City. When my case began, they brought it to New York when the accounts were in Philadelphia. They claimed there was the COMEX for the venue, so that was good enough even though currencies traded in Chicago. When my lawyer heard they filed the case in New York City, he said of shit. I asked what was the problem. He said you don’t understand. New York practices law differently. Boy, did I find out.
Judges can alter the transcripts and change the words you speak in court. The Court of Appeals ruled they did not have the power to order the judges to obey the law (see UNITED STATES V. ZICHETTELLO 208 F3d 72 (2d Cir 2000) at page 97). A federal statute 18 U.S. Code § 1519 defines that as a felony with 20 years in prison. I forced Judge Oweb to admit he was altering my transcripts, and the DOJ would not indicate him; the Court of Appeals lost my appeal THREE TIMES and then said I was out of time. The ONLY reason they released me was because the Supreme Court agreed to take my case. So they released me and told the Supreme Court the case was moot.
Remember MF Global. That is when Judge Martin Glen seized the assets of all clients to protect the banks that Corsine was trading with. The trustee overseeing MF Global’s liquidation eventually confirmed that the amount of customers’ funds from the failed brokerage was at least $1.6 billion. This was the biggest financial crime, perhaps in history, far worse than Madoff. This is the outright theft of client funds sanctioned by the court, which protected all the bankers. Nobody was being called to account because MF Global, which was headed by former Goldman Sachs CEO, Senator, and New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, was also protected. The client’s funds were illegally seized by the NY court and were used to cover the losses to the bankers completely in violation of the law.
The collapse was the eighth-largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history. The US Regulators investigated only whether MF Global tapped into client money from clients’ accounts as its financial condition worsened. They are ignoring the fact that it was trading with client money before the last few days. Brokerage Houses are required to keep customer money separate from the firm’s money, but that was simply not being enforced in the instant case.
As an astute lawyer wrote in about New York, he correctly pointed out that there is no rule of law, for it is a corrupt city with a “connection-based society,” not a “contract-based society.” Contracts mean nothing in New York, and this is why no bankers ever go to prison there. The courts will always rule against people for political objectives.
In 1951, NY executed an innocent woman they KNEW was innocent. It was April 5th, 1951, when Julius Rosenberg (1918-1953) and his 35-year-old wife Ethel (1915-1953) were sentenced to death using this Espionage Act. Today, everyone concedes that his wife’s crime was simply being married to Julius. The prosecutors charged her, thinking it would force him to give up his contacts, which he never did, most likely because he had none.
A co-defendant of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Morton Sobell (1917-2018), admitted for the first time that he was a Soviet spy on his deathbed at 91 after serving 30 years in prison but also made it clear that Ethel was innocent. Sobell passed military secrets to the Communists in World War II when the nations were still allies, he told the New York Times. Sobell, who served 18 years for espionage, said Julius did pass secrets, but Ethel, executed with her husband in 1953, was guilty of nothing more than being Mrs. Rosenberg.
Under our legal system, the Jury can nullify the conviction using common sense based on their own sense of justice. Our corrupt judges will never instruct the jury that they have that power. The JURY can refuse to follow the corrupt law and acquit a defendant even when the evidence presented seems to point to an incontrovertible verdict of guilt. Personally, I think the Jury should be told that they have the power to nullify a conviction as well as to direct charges and reprimand the prosecutor in such a case for his abuse of power.
All I can say is GET THE HELL OUT OF NYC before there is NO BID!
It’s a Sanctuary City and Taxes will Only Rise to Pay for the onslaught of uneducated illegal migrants.
Posted originally on Feb 20, 2024 By Martin Armstrong
You are absolutely not safe in New York. Both physically and financially. If the criminals don’t get you, the “courts” and politicians will. Please, please, get out if you can. They will come for you next as they grow more desperate for your money and your business. Get out. Let…
Posted originally on Feb 20, 2024 By Martin Armstrong
The reaction to this bogus decision against Trump is just overwhelming. I cannot even tell you how many emails have come in, all getting the point and confirming it is time to get the hell out of New York. They have shown the entire world that no rule of law is left standing.
As an international hedge fund manager, the #1 assessment you need to make is COUNTRY RISK. Is it safe to invest there, and is there a robust rule of law that you can count on to secure your investment? That is why you do not invest in countries like Iran, for they had their revolution and nationalized all private assets. Russia did the same during the Communist Revolution of 1917.
Even during the American Revolution, they confiscated the assets of anyone who supported the king. Those confiscated assets became the backing for currency.
Now we have City & State Risk. There is already a mass migration underway from Blue States to Red States. This will only accelerate this advance. I am warning clients that the longer they wait to have property to sell in NYC, the greater the loss they will face. Sell now before there is no bid.
The Rule of Law has completely collapsed in New York City. It is no longer investment grade for there is no possible way to secure your property. One lawyer who wrote in, and here are his comments, which need to be reviewed carefully:
Hi Martin.
I have three things to pass on to you:
First, you are absolutely correct. Does the majority of the New York business community really know what Judge Engoron did? … Engoron and Hochul confirmed that New York is a “connection-based society” not a “contract-based society,” or, as you say “corrupt to its core.” All the assurances by the Governor Hochul that businesses should not fear the civil action the state filed against Trump and the money judgment Engoron rendered, and that there’s nothing to worry about, is just another confirmation that New York is now completely a “connection-based society.” The governor even confirmed that she could, but won’t, overrule Engoron proving that in New York the branches of government are intermixed. … Hochul does not realize that her comments were damaging not reassuring. What fool will trust her and New York now. My solution: Sell all equities of companies that have their headquarters or domicile where they could be subject to the jurisdiction of New York and can be sued under the same laws Trump was.
Second, it is a correct move to challenge the definition of “fraud.” In the mid-1980s I was lead plaintiff’s counsel in the first civil RICO suit filed against a financial institution in … . The case was allotted to a judge like Engoron. That judge ran me through the ringer, but I kept the case alive. At one point the court was toying with the question “What is fraud?” The court was trying to find yet another way to dismiss the case and require me to re-plead it. I did a massive study of fraud. I even read John T Nonan’s book entitled Bribes. The definitions of fraud in our state and federal courts are too many to count, but I finally boiled it down to the essential elements, i.e., all those that absolutely MUST be present or there is no fraud.
This is the definition I found that applies to ALL cases no matter how the elements are worded is this: FRAUD IS THE VOLUNTARY TRANSFER OF SOMETHING OF VALUE BY DECEIT. The occurrence sued on and alleged to be fraud MUST be (1) VOLUNTARY, (2) A TRANSFER, (3) OF SOMETHING OF VALUE, (4) BY DECEIT. If any of these four elements are missing, it’s not fraud. Obviously, New York is missing the transfer element which, I think, makes each of the other elements a non sequitur and meaningless.
Third, cities and states have found new ways to increase revenue by twisting laws and our basic societal framework of separate branches of government. As you have long maintained, they are on a hunt for taxes. From 2000 to 2005 I was a Deputy City Attorney for the City …. We handled the civil legal affairs of the city, not the criminal cases. After I left, … , a lawyer contacted me and asked me to analyze the facts of a case he thought he had. I found that … had changed its procedures regarding blighted property to avoid the courts of the judicial branch. The city established a list of huge fines for properties that were cited with code violations. The fines accrued interest after a certain time period passed, and the property owner did not correct the violations.
The procedure was unconstitutional because no judge EVER reviewed or had ANY role in the proceedings to collect the fines and interest. A hearing officer (executive branch) would assess a fine and give the property owner a specific amount of time to correct the violations. He would prepare and sign an “administrative” judgment setting forth his findings, rulings and assessing the fine plus interest. If the time elapsed and the violations were not remedied by the property owner, the Clerk of Court (executive branch, ministerial powers only, no judicial powers) of the state court in … would issue a request for seizure and sale to the … Civil Sheriff (executive branch, ministerial powers only, no judicial powers).
The Civil Sheriff would issue an order of seizure and sale and the property would be auctioned off to the highest bidder. The fines plus interest were always high enough that the property owner could not pay same, but low enough that someone with capital could pick up the properties at a very, very cheap price. The “laws” that established this procedure were mostly ordinances passed by the … City Council, which was the wrong authority to approve a seizure and sale that was not reviewed and signed by a duly elected or appointed state court judge. Cities are not separate sovereigns with the right to enact general laws, like causes of action and shifting judicial powers to authorities that have only ministerial executive duties.
So, intermixing branches of government and shifting and assuming powers that states and cities cannot exercise are not the only scams being used to collect money. States and cities are doing end runs around Constitutional principles. New York did it by giving the court the power to calculate general damages rather than enacting legislation reciting a list of fines that the state may impose for business improprieties. The state courts would then just include the fine that applies under the circumstances that was set by the state legislature. That would be Constitutional, but having the freedom to assess unspecified damages that the state does not suffer is absurd.
To summarize, no transfer = no fraud, and no fines set by the legislature to assess replaced by the power to impose general damages = a sham system that is a blurred mixture of the executive branch and the judicial branch.
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