Written by Nada TawfikBBC News, New York
Getty ImagesDonald Trump's latest legal defeat takes aim at his very identity and hits him where it hurts the most.
For decades, he promoted himself as a genius business tycoon who achieved success in one of the most cutthroat cities in the world, largely due to constant self-promotion.
That image will forever be associated with the New York deal-making, propelling him to international fame and allowing him to reinvent himself, first as a reality TV star and eventually as President of the United States.
But Judge Arthur Engoron's ruling in a civil fraud case involving inflating real estate values and lying on financial statements to obtain better loan terms undermines the entire Trump story. . Rather, it paints him as a fraud and deals a huge blow to his business empire and wealth.
Donald Trump once said that the mind can overcome any obstacle. But what an obstacle this is!
The ruling will significantly reduce the Trump Organization's ability to operate in New York. He is personally prohibited from holding any directorship for three years, and his company will not be able to obtain financing from any financial institution registered with the city during that time.
He was hit with a hefty financial penalty of $355 million, which rises to more than $450 million with interest, far more than he has cash on hand. . His business will continue to be monitored by an independent monitor, and a separate independent compliance director will also approve key business decisions.
Perhaps the only bright spot for the former president and Republican front-runner is that the Trump empire has been spared the corporate death penalty of having its business license revoked.
For decades, Mr. Trump has bounced back and appeared to recover from scandals and legal challenges that could have caused irreparable harm to others, but nothing sticks and the Teflon don It's even called.
The nickname was previously used by mob boss John Gotti, who won a series of high-profile acquittals in the 1980s. But today's ruling suggests that, like Gotti, Donald Trump's luck may be running out.
Judge Engoron pointed to Trump and the other defendants' lack of remorse and history of repeated and persistent fraud. In this case, more than a decade of misconduct at the company “jumps off the page and shocks the conscience,” he said.
But the defendants were unable to admit the error of their ways, he said, writing: “Their complete lack of repentance and remorse borders on the pathological.”
Unsurprisingly, Trump sees things quite differently. He insists he has built a “perfect company” and denies he should be punished for fraud because the bank has been repaid in full. He has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that his legal challenges are nothing more than a conspiracy by Democratic Party elites to keep him out of the White House.
Mary Trump, Trump's estranged niece, said the judge's ruling brings the Trump family's legacy to a close. “Today is an emotional day, but one thing is for sure: Engoron's decision is absolutely devastating for Donald,” she wrote on social media.
The son of a real estate developer whose portfolio includes mid-range apartment projects in the suburban boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, Mr. Trump always dreamed of making a name for himself among Manhattan's skyscrapers.
His seven years of construction work from 1976 to 1983, which included the namesake Trump Tower, cemented his reputation as a New York real estate magnate. “Few sons have been able to escape from their father,” he told the New York Times in 1983, implying that the 37-year-old was already on the run.
And it's true that the era of greed and excess of the 1980s was a prosperous time for this brash young developer.
Getty ImagesTrump Tower is located in a prime location on Fifth Avenue and made Donald Trump famous. Once his reputation was established, he started putting his name on every project he did.
However, by the early 1990s, Donald Trump filed for several corporate bankruptcies and lost almost everything.
It was around this time that Rich Herschlag, chief engineer of the Manhattan Borough of President's Office, began working with Trump and his organization on the Riverside South project, which would redevelop former railroad yards on the Upper West Side. Ta.
He said it meant “everything, or close to it,” for Donald Trump to be considered a successful real estate developer, especially building an empire from his father's legacy.
“To see that [potentially] “When you're eviscerated and devastated, I can't imagine it being anything other than emotional horror,” he told the BBC.
It is not yet clear how Trump will pay the nearly $500 million he is responsible for, or whether he will need to sell any assets or businesses to raise the cash. His vast New York real estate empire is valued at $490 million by Forbes magazine, but he also has many other properties across the country, including hotels, golf courses, condos, and even wineries.
Selling prime Manhattan real estate would be another humiliation for the former president, and would not be a decision taken lightly.
But whether or not Donald Trump recovers from this financial shock, the results have undoubtedly damaged his fortunes, perhaps irreparably.
The verdict is undoubtedly a huge loss in a city where he has always been an outsider but rose to the top. And for more than 60 years, no one in the New York real estate world has been more derided than Trump's “loser.”
