Oregon AG Leads 17 States in Brief Defending State Fraud Enforcement in New York Trump Case
Salem, Marion County, Oregon — Attorney General Dan Rayfield on October 30 led 17 states in filing a friend-of-the-court brief in the civil fraud case New York brought against Donald Trump and his business associates, defending a basic principle: fraud is against the law, no matter who commits it or how sophisticated the victim is.
New York Attorney General Letitia James brought the case, People v. Trump, under a state law authorizing her office to go after repeated or ongoing business fraud, alleging the defendants inflated the values of assets to obtain better terms on loans and insurance policies. The case is before the New York Court of Appeals. The defendants are Donald Trump, Eric Trump, Allen Weisselberg, and Jeffrey McConney. They are asking New York's highest court to rule that the state had no business stepping in because the banks they defrauded were big, sophisticated institutions that never complained.
The brief argues that if that argument wins, it could make it harder for attorneys general across the country, including in Oregon, to go after fraud on behalf of the public. Fraud hurts more than the people in the deal, the brief says: it warps the marketplace, cheaters gain an unfair edge over honest competitors, fraud against a large bank puts its employees and depositors at risk, and powerful players may stay quiet for their own reasons.
“When someone misleads a bank to get a better deal, everyone else who plays by the rules pays for it — the competitor who told the truth, and the workers and depositors who count on that bank staying healthy,” said Attorney General Rayfield. “Being rich and well-connected doesn't buy you a different set of rules.”
Oregon led the filing, joined by Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai'i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于 Salem 的俄勒冈州议会大厦。ZehnKatzen 摄，CC BY 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Oregon State Capitol in Salem. Photo by ZehnKatzen, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
