Banks and insurance companies trying to keep the public in the dark about their business dealings with Donald Trump ran into a ray of legal sunshine on Tuesday, after a judge ruled that he wouldn’t seal records in the run-up to the New York Attorney General’s upcoming trial against the real estate mogul.
A handful of firms associated with Trump made a last-ditch effort to hide documents that detailed the way they unwittingly became part of the Trump Organization’s alleged scheme to inflate assets. But the judge, Arthur F. Engoron, ruled that—aside from information like the home addresses of certain employees and bank account numbers—the public has a right to see the documents and communications.
The former president is just 34 days away from heading to civil trial in New York City, where his personal finances will be put under a microscope while the state’s AG tries to bleed his corporation dry over the way it routinely overstated its holdings on official documents.
But with that trial around the corner, the companies that kept lending him hundreds of millions of dollars for business deals are trying to quietly slink away into the shadows—and hide the paperwork that shows how they played along.
As usual, this evinces businesses operating in as much secrecy as possible. Why? Because most businesses have a hell of a lot of bad stuff to hide. One could even say there are buttloads of bad stuff to hide.
Aren't all businesses good and ethical? You decide. What bad stuff could there possibly be?
Well, there's these items for example, price gouging, deceit and abuse of consumers, deceit of government, law breaking, shocking incompetence of arrogant nincompoop executives, more price gouging, toxic chemicals in food and other products, illegal labor use, vast pollution of the environment, legal and illegal child labor use, tax evasion, fraud, murder, lies, deceit, slanders, crackpot conspiracy theories, support of criminals like DJT, executives and employees fornicating, executives supporting authoritarian, theocratic, fascist, bigoted and/or racist groups and ideologies like the John Birch Society and Christian nationalism, more price gouging, intentional design of low quality products, intentional design of products that go obsolete, intentional design of products that when broken cannot be fixed, more price gouging, purchase of congress and state legislatures to (i) legalize corruption and create tax loopholes, and (ii) protect business from consumer lawsuits, etc.
Stuff like that, you know? Hm. Ooh, there's some very nasty business in that list of business nastiness. Now I've scared myself. I think this issue is going to be appealed all the way to the USSC. Companies that did sleazy business with DJT have a hell of a lot to hide. They need to get the USSC to protect their sacred corporate privacy. After all, corporations are very powerful people, right? Right.
Hm. Now I wonder why it is that power corporation people get their privacy respected, but powerless people people do not, e.g., forced birth laws. Could it be that government is corrupted and subverted by special interests a vehicle that services special interests before it services the public interest? . . . . . Hell yes.
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The Hill reports about the spread of fresh anti-vaxx crackpottery:
A new study found that dog owners in the U.S. are growing more skeptical of vaccinating their four-legged friends — including to help prevent rabies.
The study, published Saturday in the medical journal Vaccine, found that 53 percent of dog owners had some concern about the safety, efficacy or necessity of canine vaccines.
Additionally, 37 percent were concerned that vaccines could cause “cognitive issues” in dogs and may lead them to develop autism, a theory not backed up by scientific evidence.
The study found that more owners are experiencing Canine Vaccine Hesitancy (CVH), defined in the journal as “dog owners’ skepticism about the safety and efficacy of administering routine vaccinations to their dogs.”
On the horizon, crackpots who believe that paying taxes is the work of Satan. Oh, those crackpots are already here. Never mind.
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In another sign of how openly contemptuous that DJT and his thugs have for the rule of law, Rudi got wacked without even making it to a trial to determine his liability for defamation. The WaPo writes:
U.S. Judge Beryl A. Howell ruled that Giuliani was liable for defaming two Georgia election workers whom he falsely accused of tampering with votes.
Howell took the extraordinary step of ruling against Giuliani without a trial, while saying he had deliberately shirked his obligation to turn over crucial discovery materials in the case.In the blistering 57-page opinion, she suggested Giuliani’s failure to turn over materials was aimed at avoiding liability not just in the defamation case but more broadly — including, apparently, in the Fulton County case. She said Giuliani’s conduct left her no choice because the election workers, Ruby Freeman and Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss, were deprived of materials they needed to argue their case.At the core of Howell’s ruling is the idea that the prominent longtime lawyer and former swashbuckling federal prosecutor must have known better. She repeatedly cited Giuliani’s lengthy legal career to make the case that he had deliberately avoided his responsibility to preserve and turn over records.
“The fact that Giuliani is a sophisticated litigant with a self-professed 50 years of experience in litigation — including serving as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York — only underscores his lackluster preservation efforts,” she wrote.
So, Rudi gets nailed without even making it to trial on the merits of the lawsuit because he withheld evidence, maybe even destroyed it. In view of the fact that Rudi was a big mouthed federal prosecutor, hiding or destroying evidence is about as openly contemptuous of the law as it can get. Judge Howell has already ordered Rudi to pay $132,000 in sanctions for failing to comply with court orders. The rest of this trial will be to determine damages Rudy will have to pay to the two people he has now been held liable for defaming. This ought to bankrupt him. Good. It would be better if the thug got years of jail time, but that's for the other Georgia lawsuit, a criminal case with possible jail time.
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