Gargantuan Trump Judgement is Government Theft at its Worst!
But the government told the court that Trump defrauded his lenders. Fraud is a material misrepresentation made in order to induce reliance and upon which someone relied to his detriment. The definition of fraud used in the Trump case mysteriously omits the detrimental reliance part of this definition.
Yet, this full definition has been universally accepted for 600+ years. Its purpose is to prevent just what happened here -- a stranger to the loan transaction, who did not rely on any of the borrower's representations, showing up afterward and claiming harm.
What harm?
The government won't say how it was harmed by Trump's commercial loans because it wasn't harmed at all by them. Oh, the government lawyers made a fanciful argument to the effect that if Trump had borrowed less because the buildings pledged as security were worth less than he claimed, the banks would have had more reserves available to lend to others. That is nonsense.
The banks get the cash they lend from the Federal Reserve and Trump did not put the money he borrowed into a shoe box. Rather, it was used to develop New York City real estate and those developments created thousands of new jobs and much new wealth.
By rejecting established legal principles, this case has done more harm to the rule of law than any misstatement of asset worth has done to the banks. The government enacted a statute that permitted it to claim harm where none existed and then steal from a wealthy entity; and a judge -- sworn to uphold the Constitution -- let the government get away with it.
Why do we put our liberties for safe keeping into the hands of those who destroy them?
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To learn more about Judge Andrew Napolitano, visit https://JudgeNap.com.
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