"Grossly inflated, objectively false, and therefore fraudulent and illegal."

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/09/letitia-james-trump-lawsuit/

Donald Trump has always blustered about his wealth. But the $250 million civil fraud lawsuit filed last week by New York’s attorney general paints a truly astonishing picture of the former president’s alleged financial exaggerations.

At his Park Avenue condo building, Trump valued 12 unsold units at $49 million—but they were actually rent-controlled apartments that were unavailable for sale on the market, so their real value was closer to $750,000, according to Letitia James, the state’s AG. Trump figured the value of his Mar-a-Lago resort at around $739 million—perhaps a reasonable number for such a large piece of oceanfront property in Palm Beach if it could be sold as a residence and subdivided to build more homes. But, James alleges, Trump knew very well from the deeds he himself had signed that the property can’t ever be divided up into residential lots. It’s arguably worth about one-tenth of what he told bankers, according to James.

Then there’s his Trump Tower penthouse, which Trump guesstimated was probably worth $327 million—after all, he pointed out to anyone who asked, it was over 30,000 square feet. Except, it wasn’t. According to James, it was only 11,000 square feet, which Trump definitely knew because, as he told everyone, he designed the place himself. Also, only one apartment in New York had ever sold for more than $100 million.

Confronted with the Trump Tower discrepancies, Trump’s longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, conceded that the number might have been erroneous by “give or take $200 million.”

*snip*

[Clash City Rocker]

1. Ego, property values, number of people at his events, size of various body parts...

[sdfernando]

2. So it sounds like to

Weisselberg it’s just a trifle…just a rounding error!

[riversedge]

3. It is past time to put this criminal in jail!!

[OAITW r.2.0]

4. There goes his paper billions.

[ProfessorGAC]

9. There Were Gone Long Ago

The only people in the financial world that don't know his net worth is nothing even close to a billion is Forbes.
While much lower on the list, they still have him listed as a billionaire.
At best, he's worth $700 million. Likely far less.
Since he took over a $400 million organization 30 years ago, and his daddy's tax dodge scheme made TFG worth $120+ million on his own, he has (again, at best) seen 33% growth over 30 years. This is under 1% per year.
Index funds paid an average of 9.8% over that time. He could have been worth over $8.5 billion by doing nothing!
But, no!
The Moody's Creditworthiness reports of 2013 & 2018 pointed all this out. And, even though they're supposed to be private, they leaked a long time ago.
The "paper" billions should already not exist.

[gratuitous]

5. The former guy's fallback position is why didn't the banks do their own valuations

And at first blush, that sounds pretty good. Why would the banks accept Trump's word for it on the valuation of his properties? Were they just lazy? Unlikely. Were they so taken with the idea that they were doing business with Mr. Art of the Deal that they took shortcuts in their eagerness to throw money at him? Color me unpersuaded. Or did they know full well that Trump was deceiving them but they were okay with it because they knew this wasn't a loan situation, but a money-laundering situation, and they would get their money back. Just so long as they didn't ask any nosy questions about how Trump could possibly pay the loans back.

Or maybe there's yet another possibility, one even darker.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

10. I'll take 'they were in cahoots in a money-laundering scheme involving Trump

and a certain war-mongering Eastern Bloc leader for $1000 Alex'

[BlueIdaho]

11. To be fair - most US banks

Wouldn’t touch him with a ten foot pole. The only banks interested in TFG are also interested in laundering Russian mob money.

[rubbersole]

6. Is there ANYTHING about this clown that isn't phony?

[SleeplessinSoCal]

7. how many more of this guy are out there cheating the government?

[MichMan]

12. How did overvalued properties to get favorable bank loans cheat the government?

I dont see the connection.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

14. He overvalued to get loans and undervalued to cheat on taxes.

How many others are ripping off honest people?

[MichMan]

15. Why did the tax assessors agree to it and lower their assessment?

They have their own assessments and it is up to the property owner to challenge it. They hardly ever agree with you, so it is generally a futile effort, as they tax you at whatever they say.

If indeed he inflated it for the purposes of getting favorable loan terms like they have charged, they would have taxed him on the true value anyway, not those bogus values.

Still not understanding how the government was cheated unless they valued his property way too low due to incompetence.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

16. I'm not a tax cheat.

Remember the never ending audit? The reason he refused to show his tax returns? We still havent seen them. Pay close attention. We will see them eventually and it will be revelatory. My question is how many put there will emulate and cheat as well. His questionable business practices aren't limited to property.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_returns_of_Donald_Trump

[Brainfodder]

8. At this point, I'd settle for him going airborne with neither plane or parachute.

Delivery for one V. Putin!

[Zeitghost]

13. I hate Trump as much as most of us here

But if this case rests on saying Park Ave. Condos are really worth $750K, this case isn't going anywhere.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

17. Did you miss the "rent controlled" part?

[Zeitghost]

18. No, I saw it

750K Park Ave. Apartments don't exist, rent controlled or not.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

19. For further reading ...

https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000183-60c5-da48-a3e3-e0e5115d0000

I think I'll accept the assessment of the professional team which has to answer for their statements in court, over that of a bald assertion.

You may also like:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217180666