“Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary has been highly critical of the Letitia James civil fraud case where Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that Trump must pay an exorbitant legal penalty in the hundreds of millions. Additionally, the state began taking steps to seize Trump’s assets if he did not pay the fine.
The business legend has been highly skeptical of the grounds used to justify the alleged fraud Trump committed. The former president was accused of overstating his net worth and the value of his properties, such as his Mar-a-Lago home, to obtain favorable terms on loans and other financial interests.
Furthermore, O’Leary has continually highlighted the impact this ruling could have on the New York business environment, where investors and business leaders could be dissuaded from deploying capital out of fear they could be held liable similarly to Trump.
“But more importantly, the message about the American brand. You think about America. The reason this is no one economy on earth is that we have laws and we have due process, and we have property rights. It attracts foreign capital from all around the world. All of that is being shaken to the core here. The concept of seizing assets in 30 days on a bond number that’s never been issued. No insurance bond companies ever issued anything near this so there was no chance it was going to happen and only giving 30 days notice in time,” O’Leary said.
The “Shark Tank” personality added that in light of the “bad message” this ruling conveys, the implications could be far-reaching, extending beyond Donald Trump. According to O’Leary, the case against Trump completely contradicts America’s reputation of promoting a business-friendly environment.
“That’s a really bad message. And I think New Yorkers should think well past Trump, whether he’s president or not, or whether this attorneys generals gone in four years or not, it’s irrelevant. This is case setting against the American brand. The most stable country on Earth, anywhere to put capital work over a long period of time, particularly in real estate is the United States of America. This isn’t as this is an assault on what we believe to be core, and I find it extraordinary I think it’s very troubling. It has absolutely nothing to do with Donald Trump at this point, in my view, and it is completely bipartisan,” he said.
O’Leary further emphasized how the move amounts to an “attack” on the values of America. He adds that beyond himself, investors are “disturbed” by the case, where there is a seemingly lack of “adult supervision” governing the legal battle. Watch O’Leary speak about the case below:
“This is an attack on America. And I don’t know how you can look at it any other way. And as an investor and I know plenty of investors are completely disturbed by this. But I mean, no one is gonna put any money to work in New York in these amounts until this thing settles down. The whole world is watching and everybody’s waiting for one thing we haven’t got yet. Adult supervision where is it? Where are the adults in this crazy narrative? Certainly, there’s got to be adult supervision at some point and I understand, you know, the war going on here and all the political yada yada wolf will fluff but we need an adult in the room,” he said.
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.
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