Following a months-long trial, Judge Arthur Engoron determined Trump and top executives conspired to alter his net worth to get certain tax and insurance benefits.
Last Friday’s ruling, if upheld, would bar Trump and top executives from serving as a director or officer of any New York firm. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, the adult sons of the former president, were blocked for two years.
The ruling also expanded the powers of an independent monitor overseeing the Trump Organization’s business.
The ousting of top Trump deputies could leave the Trump Organization “hamstrung
” by the decision if it’s upheld, said Will Thomas, a business law professor at the University of Michigan.
“It’s just unclear — who’s there to run this thing?” Thomas said.
The family real estate business started in the early 1900s when the former president’s grandfather started buying up land around New York City.
The business expanded under Trump’s father, Fred Trump, and the former president transformed the family business into a real estate empire.
While the ruling — if it’s not overturned — won’t shut down the Trump company, it could seriously shake up the operation.
But as an owner of the Trump Organization and other entities, the former president could still select directors to serve in his stead and remain in compliance with Engoron’s order. Those directors could then choose officers to run the day-to-day operations of the business.
“It makes it a very, very different kind of business, because … if the owner wants to have some kind of voice, they’re going to have to find someone willing to stand in their place as the director,” said Brian Quinn, a law professor at Boston College.
“This case is … revealed how pervasive these types of practices were across the organization,” he said.
“It seems like a condition of being tasked with a leadership position at the Trump Organization, at least up until now, has been at least a willingness, if not eagerness, to routinely engage in fraud.”
The Hill’s Ella Lee has more here.
