Donald Trump got caught red-handed during his $250 million New York bank fraud trial on Monday when lawyers for the New York attorney general’s office revealed Trump had long ago signed financial documents with the clear intent that they would be used to curry favor with banks.

After being shown a loan agreement he had signed with Deutsche Bank in 2012, Trump agreed that his faulty financial statements were intended to induce banks to lend money.

While it might not sound like much, the admission is key to the New York attorney general’s case, which hopes to prove that Trump deceived banks and insurers by massively overvaluing his net worth. Trump essentially admitted on the stand that these financial documents were produced with the express intent to induce lending. The Trump Organization was likely able to secure loans at far lower interest rates due to all the overinflated valuations.

  • Rusticus@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I don’t think anyone in this community is going to argue that Trump didn’t break the law, egregiously and many many times. What everyone doubts is that there will be any real consequences for the wealthy elite, especially this one.

    • RojoSanIchiban@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      “They let him get away with anything.”

      “Ok he’s under investigation but they’ll let him slide.”

      “Ok, he’s been charged, but they’ll never convict him.”

      The Trump organization is already criminally convicted of fraud and Weiselberg already spent time at Rikers Island.

      Trump has already been found liable for rape and defamation, and another case for that act is going to add to his millions in damages that he will have to pay.

      His business in New York is already a dead man walking. He’s going to have to liquidate nearly everything to pay off the damages that the Judge will decide from this trial in December, if not earlier, depending on witnesses the defense calls.

      There are likely going to be criminal fraud charges brought for the same actions and intent being uncovered in this case.

      In March, the Federal criminal case begins for election interference and obstruction. Those charges will put him in prison before the '24 election. After that, Fulton Co. GA and Federal docs case will go forward and he will get more convictions and more time.

      We all want the wheels of justice to turn faster on blatant fucks like this, but that’s not how the system works.

      Trump is going to die in prison if he doesn’t off himself first.

      • firkin_slang_whanger@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        That’s if he doesn’t get elected president first. If he’s on the ballot, he still stands a good chance of getting elected and then those charges may not stick. That’s why he keeps pushing for further dates on his trials. Let’s hope the wheels of justice move quickly this time.

          • MyHiddenAgenda@lemmynsfw.com
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            1 year ago

            You are an amazing optimist in this situation. I think I’m a pretty damn optimistic person, but I still fear this man will walk away without ever seeing the inside of a jail cell.

            I think you believe what all of us want to happen actually will. You believe what would happen to any non-rich elite will happen to Trump, because the justice system will prevail and has him dead to rights. But the rest of us won’t believe it until we see it with our own eyes.

      • Rusticus@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I don’t believe most of this to be realistic but I appreciate your optimism. Meanwhile Trump is leading in polling in many swing states because apparently inflation is way worse than fascism.

        • RojoSanIchiban@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I don’t care what you “believe.” You don’t understand the justice system. This isn’t a critique, it’s a fact.

          I also don’t give the slightest shit about polling. Polls have been consistently incorrect for the last decade, and are incessantly spun to create controversy.

          • kwking13@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            It’s not a fact. You’re predicting events of the future that haven’t yet happened. I don’t care what you know about the legal system, you absolutely cannot call it fact.

            You are not a supreme being with the power of knowing or influencing the future. That’s just nonsense.

            Also I hope you’re right.

          • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            The ‘fact’ is that nothing is done until it’s done. I hope you’re right. I’m not an optimist.

            • RojoSanIchiban@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              I’m not an optimist. I’m a realist with experience in the the legal system that is absolutely fucking sick and tired of unbridled cynicism from people that fundamentally do not understand how the legal system works.

      • paddirn@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I’m really hoping that it all turns out that way and he does die in prison, a broken, pathetic man, but suppose those cases get delayed just enough, through blatant fuckery by Trump & his lawyers to put it past the election, and then suppose Trump still wins? I wish it wasn’t so, but that he’s still somehow neck & neck with Biden in the polls is astounding, in a sane world it wouldn’t even be this close. What kind of chaos does the US Government get thrown into when a President-Elect is getting charged with multiple felonies and facing jail time? Or suppose Trump does go to jail and still runs for President (this has happened before) and actually wins? How does the system cope with that without just letting Trump out of prison? Or suppose something happens to Biden and the Democrats really don’t have any viable replacement?

        I went into the 2016 election thinking, “There’s no chance in hell he gets elected,” and yet, he still won. We can’t really trust our fellow Americans to make the right choice anymore. That millions of people are still ready to vote for Trump despite all the available evidence really doesn’t bode well for the country, even if Biden still wins in 2024.

      • jballs@sh.itjust.works
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        I appreciate your certainty and optimism, but at the end of the day it’s going to come down to the jurors. I don’t have any faith that a mostly random group of 12 people isn’t going to have at least 1 MAGAt. Just look at the grand jury votes to indict. They weren’t unanimous, because there were people that refused to believe Trump and Co could do wrong.

      • CADmonkey@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Trump is going to die in prison if he doesn’t off himself first.

        Or he will flee to Russia, a magical land where Enemies of the State™ tend to fall out of windows.

        The thing that I wonder about is this: trump will eventually die. Either in prison, or from having too many hamburgers, or from a sudden momentum transfer into concrete. When that happens, then what? Nobody likes his coked out children, and none of the other GQP hopefuls are as popular.

        • RojoSanIchiban@lemmy.world
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          I’ve long expected him to run off to Russia and I’m continually surprised he hasn’t. Maybe he still somehow thinks he’ll skate or otherwise knows he doesn’t have a way in? Maybe that’s why he’s been buttering them up in his speeches.

          And to the other point, absolutely agree. That’s been the one thing that’s kept me more optimistic, that once he’s put away or buried under a piss-covered headstone, there’s no one capable of controlling the cult. The craziest of the crazies will go on with doomsday conspiracies with miraculous returns that never happen, but the head of the magatshitsnake will be cut off.

          • rifugee@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I think the reason he hasn’t fled is because he’s so narcissistic and delusional that he honestly believes that he did nothing wrong.

      • Nougat@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        The Trump organization is already criminally convicted of fraud …

        It’s a civil trial, not a criminal one.

        • RojoSanIchiban@lemmy.world
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          No, the Org was criminally convicted already. That’s why the CFO went to prison.

          This is a different case.

      • BigMcLargeHuge@mstdn.social
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        1 year ago

        @RojoSanIchiban @Rusticus

        Jail…for Donnie Two-Scoops?

        Nah, it’ll be more fines and bullshit.

        You can tell by the way the courts just let him continue to FUCKING THREATEN court staff.

        This is a great dream you have there, but let’s not pretend it’ll happen in the world we live in.

        • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          The NY case is going to end up with hundreds of millions of fines and the dismantling of Trump’s real estate business. Which is a pretty big deal.

          There is a common sentiment of “just send him to jail already” but that’s not how due process works. He’s not going to get sentenced to jail before he’s been convicted in the Georgia case or the federal cases.

          And despite the common sentiment, people aren’t generally thrown in jail for the first violation of a gag order, or even the second one. They generally get fined a few thousand dollars the first few times, which is exactly what happened to Trump.

          Jailing Trump for two gag order violations might be briefly satisfying, but it would be immediately reversed on appeal and throw the whole case into question. So the judges need to do everything by the book.

        • RojoSanIchiban@lemmy.world
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          You don’t know what you’re talking about, which was the point of my comment to begin with.

          You’re simply ignorant of the system and making assumptions based on emotion. You need to absorb actual information on the proceedings from reputable news sources. I can suggest a number of lawyers who moonlight with podcasts if you’d like.

          • Rhoeri@lemmy.world
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            making assumptions based on emotion.

            This is exactly what you’re doing in every comment you’ve made. It’s wishful thinking with zero knowledge of how things will go.

            • RojoSanIchiban@lemmy.world
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              Horseshit. I’m railing against cynics that have absolutely no understanding of the legal system. I do have an understanding of it.

              • Rhoeri@lemmy.world
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                It doesn’t seem so based on the bullshit you’re plagiarizing from talking heads on television.

          • BigMcLargeHuge@mstdn.social
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            @RojoSanIchiban

            Remindme! 12 months.

            While I would love to be wrong, I’ll prep the “I told you so”.

            As far as assumptions go, I base them on 77 YEARS of no penalty for a life of crime or do you want to argue that simple fact?

            You? You enjoy your dream.

    • TurtleJoe@lemmy.world
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      The minimum that will happen here is the $250 million fine. That’s because he’s already been found guilty of the top count. The current trial is to determine if he’s guilty of the other counts, and how much more Trump will be fined. He could also lose his ability to operate any of his businesses in NYS (this may have already happened, I can’t remember.)

      This is also a bench trial, since his attorneys forgot to ask for a jury trial. That means the judge will decide if he’s guilty of the further counts, and what the punishments will be. The same judge that he’s been screaming at from the stand, threatening on social media, and whose staffers trump has also been threatening and doxxing.

    • mtdyson_01@lemmynsfw.com
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      There will be none. There will be a fine sure but there will be a banking institution somewhere that will loan him the money and he will just set up shop somewhere else and continue as he has always done.

      • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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        There will be none. There will be a fine sure but there will be a banking institution somewhere that will loan him the money and he will just set up shop somewhere else and continue as he has always done.

        The cynicism isnt helpful or even accurate.

        • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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          Yeah, “set up shop somewhere”? He manages buildings in NYC. How do you think he’s going to move the buildings?

  • Nastybutler@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    He’s already been found guilty. The court is now just trying to show how much he needs to pay in damages.

    • June@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Which is unfortunate that the only outcome of this trial will be him paying damages (that he’ll never voluntarily pay).