Conservative attorney George Conway broke down the severity of the summary judgment against former President Donald Trump and his adult sons in the New York State civil fraud trial on CNN Tuesday.
"George, what do you think?" asked anchor Wolf Blitzer. "How big of a blow, potentially, this is for the former president and his children?"
"It's essentially corporate — the equivalent of the corporate death penalty for the Trump Organization in New York State," said Conway.
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"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."
Watch the video below or at the link here.
George Conway says Trump Organization got the "corporate death penalty"www.youtube.com
