Not content with slapping former President Donald Trump with almost half a billion dollars in fines for a “crime” in which there were no victims, New York Judge Arthur Engoron ruled Thursday that the court will effectively take over the Trump Organization.
At least, that’s how it reads, seeing as Trump will have to disclose his every financial move to his government overlords. Engoron wrote:
Based on the Court's findings in its February 16th Order, the Court ordered the continued monitoring of Defendants' financial and accounting practices and disclosures, including and enhanced role for the Monitor, for a period of no less than three years, as well as the appointment of an Independent Director of Compliance.
Who will be monitoring the operations of the multi-national real estate conglomerate? An experienced businessperson? A financial expert? No, it will (continue to) be another judge:
Retired federal Judge Barbara Jones, who has monitored the Trump Organization's finances as part of a preliminary injunction in 2022, will continue in her role for the next three years.
The monitor will allow reviews of the organization's internal accounting records, recordkeeping, financial reporting policies and more.
The Trump Organization will be required to provide the monitor with monthly bank statements, notify the monitor at least five business days before major cash or asset transfers, and inform the monitor about debt restructuring or payment.
That already sounds like enough, but there’s even more. The court has to be notified of just about every piece of paper shuffled during the workday:
"Defendants shall not evade the terms of this Monitorship Order by transferring assets, reincorporating existing business entities in other forms or jurisdictions, modifying entity ownership, or any other form of restructuring or change in corporate form," the order from Engoron states.
Jones will also be able to advise the court on orders to change operations within the Trump Organization.
Does the former president have to tell them how much exercise he does each day, and how many calories he consumes?
The news comes even as crusading anti-Trump New York Attorney General Letitia James is threatening to take the Organization’s assets unless they pay up immediately. This used to be called extortion.
See:
New York Attorney General Letitia James Moves to Seize Donald Trump’s Assets After Fraud Judgment
Now this!
— 🇺🇸ProudArmyBrat (@leslibless) March 21, 2024
The rogue Judge Engoron in Trumps NY civil business case, has just ruled that Trump now must inform a court-appointed financial babysitter named Barbara Jones “IN ADVANCE, of all efforts to secure surety bonds.”
The Trump company also must tell Jones about any… pic.twitter.com/V3lXHkXH8X
“Beyond evil!” the above social media poster wrote. Can’t say I disagree.
Of all the actions against Trump, from disgraced Fulton County Georgia DA Fani Willis to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s absurd hush-money case to Special Counsel Jack’s Smith classified documents persecution, I find this “real estate fraud” perhaps the most dangerous to our future and the most un-American. (The preposterous E. Jean Carroll judgment comes in a close second.)
The government is literally taking a private U.S. citizen’s property—hundreds of millions of dollars of it—and in effect seizing his business. Yes, Trump supposedly received the due process required by the Constitution, but with the radical Judge Engoron at the helm, it feels like all ethical standards were simply thrown out the window to “get Trump.”
Anyone who is not profoundly disturbed by this – even anti-Trumpers—isn’t paying attention.
Related:
AP Admits It: No Other Case in NY History Like Crusading Prosecutor Letitia James' Pursuit of Trump
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