In response to a lawsuit by New York Attorney General Letitia James, a state judge ruled on Tuesday that former President Donald Trump had committed fraud by dramatically overvaluing his assets in "statements of financial condition" (SFCs) that he submitted to lenders. Trump's strongest rebuttal to that conclusion is straightforward: No harm, no foul. Since none of the lenders suffered losses as a result of his misrepresentations, his lawyers say, he should not be penalized for them. As Trump lawyer Christopher Kise put it after New York County Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ruled against Trump, there was "zero evidence of any default, breach, late payment or any complaint of harm."
Engoron concedes that point in his partial summary judgment. But under Section 63(12) of New York's Executive Law as interpreted by state appeals courts, he says, it does not matter. To establish a violation of that statute, he writes, James "need only prove" that "the SFCs were false and misleading" and that "the defendants repeatedly or persistently used the SFCs to transact business." And although Trump contested that first point, Engoron says, the documentary evidence overwhelmingly showed that his asset valuations were wildly at odds with reality.
