Well, That Explains It

I’d wondered how Trump was liable for fraud without reliance by the entities he defrauded. Common law fraud requires both fraudulent intent and reliance on the misrepresentations to someone’s detriment. But Trump was charged under a New York statute, not common law:

The reason for that is the statute that was invoked," Conway continued. "It's called the Martin Act, which was enacted 102 years ago. And it is extremely powerful, a weapon the state can use against fraudsters. It's powerful for a number of reasons. One is, it doesn't require proof of fraudulent intent by the business or its CEO or any of its officers." 

Conway explained it also doesn't require proof that Trump's fake numbers "are actually relied on by anyone. It's enough that the numbers kept on the books, whether the company be publicly traded or a private corporation like trump corporation — it's enough that the numbers are false." 

Despite complaints by Eric Trump, there was no dispute that the numbers were fake.  

"Trump's defense, which isn't a defense under the Martin Act, was, well, nobody was going to rely on it, we basically said nobody should rely on it, essentially, everyone knows I'm lying because I'm a liar," Conway said. "Not far from the truth. The other aspect of the Martin Act and that's the most important piece of what happened today, is that it provides for extraordinary remedies even in the civil context. And those remedies include, basically, the stripping of the ability to do business in the State of New York and ordering the dissolution of a business doing business in New York. And that's what the judge did today." 

Ultimately, it's still up to a jury to decide exactly what Trump owes in damages — but irrespective of that, said Conway, "the Trump Organization is out of business. And that's not good for Donald Trump."

Trump would be right in his defense if reliance were an element under the statute; but it isn’t. His lawyers should have explained this to him. Maybe they did, and he paid no attention. 

It doesn’t matter now.

Donald Trump is no longer in business in New York State. A judge canceled all of his business certificates and appointed a judge to monitor the assets. 

Barring an unlikely reversal by an appeal court, the assets will be sold and Trump, Don Jr., & Eric are barred from business.

Well now I know what happens to the jet. I wonder who owns MAL?

And who cares?

Hey @PhilipRucker ? Will you be assiging 6 journalists to write about how a judge found Trump and TWO SONS engaged in a decade of fraud, like you assigned 6 journalists, several conflicted, to report that Biden's son unlawfully owned a gun for 11 days 5 years ago?

It’s a fair question.