In New York, a court revealed that a leading citizen had cooked the books by blowing up questionable figures without any support in reality. Moreover, his wild overvaluation was generally considered motivated by his self -glorification. The final reported figures are so absurdly inflated that they were rejected in their entirety. Eventually he was finished with more than half a billion dollars.
That man is judge Arthur Engoron.
After a Court of Appeal in New York unanimously had thrown away the absurd judgment of the half billion dollars and interest against President Donald Trump of Engor, the irony was crushing. It was Engoron who seemed, as he characterized Trump witnesses, as ‘just denied reality’. It made its notorious dependence on an assessment of Mar-A-Lago, because a value between $ 18 million and $ 27.6 million seem good accounting.
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In the end he could not get a single judge to keep a single dollar of that fine.
Trump had a great victory of the court, but the battle is going on. A sketch of the court shows lawyer Jesus Suarez who interrogates Eli Bartov as the then-Vormer president Donald Trump and judge Arthur Engoron look at the civil court of Manhattan in New York on December 7, 2023. (Jane Rosenberg)
For some of us who have treated that process, the most lively image of Engoron came in the beginning. He indicated that he did not want any cameras in court, but when the networks showed up, Engoron pulled his glasses off and seemed to pose in front of the cameras.
It was A “Sunset Boulevard” moment. We only need Gloria Swanson who looks in the camera to speak with “those great people who are in the dark!” and announce: “Okay, [Ms. James]I am ready for my close-up. ”
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The close-up was not a good idea and on appeal it was completely disastrous. The court found little legal or factual basis for his fine. The alleged witnesses not only lost no dime, but they testified that they have provided money to the loans and wanted new loans to the Trump administration. Engoron did not move that. From the start he spoke with those ‘great people there’.
You didn’t have to go far. In both the civil and criminal processes of Trump in New York, there was a carnival atmosphere on the street outside the courthouse. It was really not told as delirium. Democrat New York Attorney General Letitia James had injected Lawfare directly into the veins of New Yorkers. In her campaign to take Trump (without the effort to name a crime or violation), James was chosen on the basis of her recreational rather than legal profession.
Yet James could not have succeeded if she had not had a judge who was willing to ignore reality and cook the books over the fines. She needed a partner in the legislation. She needed Engoron.
Even for some anti-Trump commentators, the judgment was impossible to defend, and some acknowledged that they had never seen a case like this in New York.
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Judge David Friedman gave Engoron a close-up that Swanson-Hizing would have made. He detailed how the underlying law “is never used in the way it is used in this case – namely to attack successful, private, commercial transactions, negotiated the length of arm between highly advanced parties that are fully able to monitor and defend their own interests.”
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He accused Engoron of participating in an attempt that was clearly aimed at “ending with the relaxation of the political career of President Trump and the destruction of his real estate company.”
Justice Arthur Engor provided the civilian fraud process of Donald Trump and his children in the Supreme Court of the state of New York, November 13, 2023, in New York City. (In Schaff-Pool/Getty images)
Other judges said that the fine of Engors was so off-base and swollen that it was an unconstitutional order under the eighth amendment, in which citizens were protected against “cruel and unusual” punishments. So, Engoron not only blown up the figures, but fragmented the constitution in his attempt to deliver a blow to Trump.
Trump can now appeal against the remaining parts of the Engoron decision that imposes restrictions on the Trump family who does business in New York. Some of those limits can dispute against the time of a definitive judgment. Ironically, if Engoron had shown a limitation, he may have won a victory. During the New York process, I said he would have been smart to impose a dollar fine and limited provisional exemption. However, that required a provision of judicial restraint and judgment.
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Instead, Engor chose to walk down the stairs. He was eliminated with half a billion dollars, which could place him in the Bernie Madoff class of judges.
In other words, if he wanted to be remembered on that first day, Arthur Engoron succeeded.
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