So I was asked to explain to someone yesterday what, exactly they are trying Donald Trump for in his supposed Fraud trial in New York. I couldn’t fully answer, as I am not really sure.
The claim, as I understand it, is that he somehow inflated the value of his holding and used that inflated value to get loans from lenders…Which is, as I see it, not a crime as the value of a property is somewhat fluid, depending on who you ask. In all of my business dealings (admittedly small change compared to the Trump empire….like maybe a rounding error at best) the lender has always done their own evaluation of the value of the property or holding that I wished a loan on, and they made their own determination as to what that value was and made loans based on THEIR determination. As far as can determine, there were no loans for properties that Mr Trump did not own, so what, exactly is the fraud?
Also, I cannot find a victim even if fraud was somehow perpetrated. As far as I can determine, all of the loans were paid off and/or are not at this time in default.
So no crime and no victim and no damage. What, exactly, is on trial in New York?
Besides political ambition, I mean.
Anyone care to explain?