Trump's NY business empire up in the air, experts call it a 'devastating' blow to Trump

Former President Donald Trump faces a mountain of legal issues, including four indictments.

But the most recent legal ruling regarding Trump, according to experts, could be the most "devastating." That ruling came this week as a result of the civil lawsuit launched against Trump and his New York-based business by New York AG Letitia James (D).

According to the New York Post, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ruled that Trump and his organization had, in fact, exaggerated the value of assets in order to obtain better loan terms and other business advantages.

The judge, known to be hostile toward the former president, made the rare summary judgment before Trump's lawyers had a chance to make a case.

Additionally, the ruling, which accuses Trump and his business of committing fraud, means that the fate of his New York business empire, for the time being, is up in the air.

The Post noted:

If not successfully appealed, the decision will revoke the Trump Organization’s “business certificates,” — the corporate licenses held by Trump, his family, the Trump Organization and the LLCs it has — preventing the 77-year-old from conducting business in the Empire State until the revocation is rescinded.

Former financial-crimes prosecutor John Moscow explained to Business Insider exactly what that ruling means for right now.

"It means you are no longer a company, and the judge is appointing someone to take over the assets and distribute them as the court sees fit," Moscow said.

NEW: If I am reading this right, Judge Engoron has found that Donald Trump committed fraud and has ordered the cancellation of all of his New York business certificates and the dissolution of the Trump Organization. pic.twitter.com/k2nRcK3L37

— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) September 26, 2023

Former New Jersey Judge Andrew P. Napolitano weighed in on the judge's bombshell ruling.

“The decision today is a final decision that fraud is proven. The judge made this decision on the basis of Trump’s own documents. The evidence is Trump’s own documentation," he said.

Napolitano added, "These are indisputable facts — the case is based entirely on the documents his lenders and his insurance companies produced."

For his part, Trump, his sons and many of his top supporters dispute the ruling, and noted that it's all part of a political witch hunt to hamstring his 2024 election chances.

"I have a Deranged, Trump Hating Judge, who RAILROADED this FAKE CASE through a NYS Court at a speed never seen before, refusing to let it go to the Commercial Division, where it belongs, denying me everything, No Trial, No Jury. He made up this crazy “KILL TRUMP” decision, assigning insanely low values to properties, despite overwhelming evidence," Trump wrote in a series of posts on Truth Social responding to the decision.