Behind the scenes, New York investors are silently hand-wringing over the possible long-term effects of a judge’s massive fraud ruling against former President Donald Trump.
Although investors won’t publicly admit it, the case is having a chilling effect, said Charles Trzcinka, professor of finance, Indiana University-Bloomington.
“If you talk to people in this market, they are very, very upset … and these are people who are neutral or even opposed to Trump,” Trzcinka told The Epoch Times. “They’re just angry about it.”
Trzcinka places students into the corporate lending market in New York, making him aware of trends there.
On Monday, an appeals court’s decision to slash the bond by 60 percent, to $175 million, still left the original history-making judgment intact while Trump continues a legal challenge of Justice Arthur Engoron’s ruling last month.
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Engoron ruled that Trump and his associates overvalued their assets. But Trzcinka said anyone who thinks Trump’s activities in that case were irregular or fraudulent may lack an understanding of typical New York business transactions.
A source familiar with the case explained to The Epoch Times that, normally, business-related cases are handled in the New York courts’ commercial division.
New York Attorney General Letitia James found a novel way to use the state’s anti-fraud law and, as a result, the cases did not go the usual route to the “commercial division.” There, cases are decided by judges who have specific, “sophisticated” knowledge of standard business practices.
Researchers examined other New York alleged fraud cases over a 70-year period and found the Trump case stands alone. The Trump Organization was the only company that confronted possibly being forced out of business despite having no proof of an obvious victim suffering major financial harm.
As a result of that unusual use of the law, the case was channeled to a court that would rarely, if ever, handle business-related matters.
Thus, the source said: “This case proceeded in just a highly irregular fashion from the start.”
The original $464 million bond amount included a $363 million judgment that Engoron levied against Trump and his associates, plus 9 percent interest.
The case promises to continue discouraging investors from doing business in the Empire State, Trczinka and two other knowledgeable sources told The Epoch Times.
That’s not only because of the crippling amounts involved, the sources said, but also because Trump and his associates were behaving within the bounds of normal business practice and victimized no one.
“All the parties under this civil case were satisfied,” Trczinka said. Yet James “brought a case without a victim” and secured a judgment approaching $500 million.
“I have never heard of a victimless civil case that even won five hundred dollars,” Trzcinka said, let alone hundreds of millions of dollars.
Businesspeople are afraid to express concerns about the ramifications aloud. Doing so would paint targets on their backs—an underlying reason why Trump was unable to persuade bonding companies or banks to cover the original $464 million bond, Trczinka and the sources said.
—Janice Hisle
AHEAD OF ELECTION, ABORTION BATTLES HEAT UP ACROSS NATION
Immediately after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, trigger laws in 13 states went into effect, banning or limiting abortions to very early pregnancy, with few exceptions. In 2023, many states without trigger laws, including Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina, enacted similar pro-life laws.
Most states are navigating an avalanche of abortion policy changes in their legislatures, on ballot measures, and through intense lobbying on both sides of the issue.
In November, voters in at least seven states will see abortion proposals on their ballots. Even in states where access to abortion isn’t on the ballot, voters may still cast votes for candidates who align with their beliefs on the subject.
The polarizing issue mobilizes people to the polls. Voter turnout was high in Ohio for an off-year election, with many turning out for abortion.
In November 2023, nearly 58 percent of Ohio voters chose to write abortion into the state’s constitution. The measure allows women to make and carry out their own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions about abortion, contraception, fertility treatment, miscarriage care, and continuing pregnancy.
Some proposed abortion laws are more restrictive, and others are less restrictive.
Parents could be charged with child abuse if they prevent their minor daughter from getting an abortion, according to a proposed Illinois law.
Taxpayers would pay all childhood expenses—up to age 18—for babies born to mothers who were unable to get an abortion, under a proposed South Carolina law. That includes food, medical and schooling. The state would also allow a woman who has a miscarriage to sue the state for compensation and damages.
—Beth Brelje
BOMB THREATS AND INTIMIDATION
The New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has weathered many pressure campaigns from the Chinese Communist Party, but this time it’s more threatening.
In the past two weeks, the group—and theaters where they performed in California, Vancouver and elsewhere—received at least 10 email threats of bomb, mass shooting, and kidnapping.
Shen Yun's tour buses have long been targeted for sabotage. Threats have recently escalated against the performing arts company, which portrays "China before communism." The Epoch Times
“In the near future, you should take care of your actresses,” read one email in Mandarin, adding that they “may very possibly disappear one by one,” and “killed after being raped.”
“If it kills one of you, there will be one less traitor,” another read.
No explosives have so far been found after law enforcement conducted evacuations and bomb sweeps.
On March 15, Costa Mesa Police Department detailed tire slashing of two Shen Yun tour buses. Cut can cause the tires to burst while in motion.
That’s just weeks after artists of one Shen Yun troupe confronted harassment from a China-born customs officer, who called their group “political” and “illegal.”
“This is absolutely religious persecution, and it should be considered as a hate crime,” Betsy Brantner Smith, a former police sergeant and spokeswoman for the National Police Association, told NTD.
Shen Yun’s vice president, Chen Ying, said the emails are “the last-ditch effort of a regime to hide the truth.”
“It is vital that they do not succeed.”
—Eva Fu
BOOKMARKS
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for defrauding investors, The Epoch Times’ Michael Washburn reports. The entrepreneur must also forfeit $11.2 billion for the victims of his crimes.
The House will send its articles of impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate on April 10, The Epoch Times’ Jackson Richman, Mark Tapscott, and Joseph Lord report. The Democrat-controlled Senate is expected to shelve the trial.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has decided against launching a No Labels presidential bid, The Epoch Times’ Jackson Richman, Dan Berger, and Jeff Louderback report. No Labels has struggled to attract candidates for its Unity Ticket as a rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump takes shape.
Hunter Biden’s lawyers’ arguments for dropping the tax-related charges against him were met with skepticism by a federal judge on Wednesday, The Epoch Times’ Jill McLaughlin reports. Biden faces up to 17 years in prison if convicted on all charges in the case.
The same court that struck down South Carolina’s Congressional district map as a racial gerrymander reinstated it on March 28 for lack of a better alternative, The Epoch Times’ Samantha Flom reports. The decision comes as the Supreme Court is set to rule on the case.
