By Mark Gray
4:07pm PST, Jan 7, 2024
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In September 2023, a New York judge ruled that Donald Trump and his adult sons — Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump — are liable for fraud for inflating the value of their family businesses in order to get better deals from banks and insurers. If the ruling stands, it would essentially gut the former president's business empire. The same month, the judge also canceled the business certifications of the Trump entities that are defendants in the case including the Trump Organization, CNN reported.
The ruling came as part of a lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who's seeking $250 million in damages. Trump denied the charges and said in a deposition that his financial statements were not fraudulent because they contained disclaimers, which the former POTUS called a "worthless clause."
But the judge argued in turn, "The defendants' reliance on these 'worthless' disclaimers is worthless. The defenses Donald Trump attempts to articulate in his sworn deposition are wholly without basis in law or fact."
Trump slammed the ruling on social media, writing, "It is a great company that has been slandered and maligned by this politically motivated Witch Hunt. It is very unfair, and I call for help from the highest Courts in New York State, or the Federal System, to intercede. THIS IS NOT AMERICA!"
Keep reading to see the notable names who've weighed in…
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After seeing that Donald Trump denied the charges against him, "The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg said, "Because everyone is lying but him."
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"Today, I lost all faith in the New York legal system. Never before have I seen such hatred toward one person by a judge – a coordinated effort with the Attorney General to destroy a man's life, company and accomplishments. We have run an exceptional company – never missing a loan payment, making banks hundreds of millions of dollars, developing some of the most iconic assets in the world. Yet today, the persecution of our family continues… In an attempt to destroy my father and kick him out of New York, a Judge just ruled that Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach Florida, is only worth approximate '$18 Million dollars' … Mar-a-Lago is speculated to be worth well over a billion dollars making it arguably the most valuable residential property in the country. It is all so corrupt and coordinated." —Eric Trump
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"Days from a government shutdown and the GOP focuses on a Biden impeachment. Trump commits fraud forcing the dissolution of the Trump Organization. Biden supports working class families and labor unions on the UAW picket line. See the difference?" —Billy Baldwin
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"Another reminder that this man, in totality, is a fraud. He is a scam artist. He steals from the public, his workers who have not been paid, the students of his 'university', his lawyers, his associates and business partners, and now his followers in donations that he pockets. If you have any sense at all you will beware Donald Trump. You mean only to him, what he can take you for." —Mark Ruffalo
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"New Yorkers always kind of knew he was a fraud and a charlatan and a conman. This puts it into the starkest terms. This is how crazy it is. He inflated the value of Mar-a-Lago, his club down in Florida, by 2,300%. … An average person would be in jail for doing it," Alyssa Farah Griffin, former White House Director of Strategic Communications for Donald Trump, said on "The View."
"Here's the thing — because I do know the man decently well: He thinks that being a loser or being poor or struggling financially, those are the absolute worst things. He never learned that playground lesson we did that winning isn't everything. I honestly think potentially seeing the sign Trump Tower taken off of 5th Avenue would be more devastating to him than sitting in a prison cell because it says he's unequivocally a loser in the place he always wanted to make it," she continued.
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"IT'S OFFICIAL! Donald Trump found guilty of Fraud! Tell us something we didn't know." —Rob Reiner
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"So far we got fraud and rape. Can't wait for the other 91 felonies." —Ellen Barkin
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"Wait til Melania finds out he's worth 800 bucks" —Joy Behar on "The View"
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"I always laugh when people said he was a real estate tycoon. No, he was a caricature… Watching him being called to task on this is kind of a little humorous." —Sara Haines
