Thread by @lawofruby

On Friday, Judge Arthur Engoron is expected to release his ruling in the New York attorney general’s civil fraud trial, a ruling that can be appealed but cannot be wiped away simply by virtue of Trump’s election to the presidency. And the consequences could be, well, yuge. 1/

If you followed the trial, you probably remember the attorney general has asked that Trump and the other defendants — including his sons Don Jr. & Eric — hand over $370 million in profits the AG argues were obtained as a result of their years-long fraud. 2/

The AG also asked for an injunction preventing Trump from ever serving as an officer or director of a New York company and/or participating in the New York real estate industry, as well as short-term bans on his sons doing the same. 3/

You might ask yourself, “Given the hammer that could fall on the Trump empire this week, why wouldn’t they just pick up and move their companies — and all of their assets — to Florida (or another hospitable state)?” That’s a reasonable question. 4/

Fortunately, it’s also one for which the AG, aided by Judge Engoron, has already had an answer in place for 15 months by way of the preliminary injunction the AG obtained in November 2022. 5/

Under that injunction, through which retired judge Barbara Jones was named the “independent monitor” for the Trump Org., the 3 Trumps — and any of their employees or others acting at their direction — are prohibited from taking certain actions without notifying the AG, the Court or Jones. 6/

Specifically, they cannot sell, transfer, or otherwise dispose of “any non-cash asset listed on [Trump’s] 2021 Statement of Financial Condition” without giving 14 days written notice to the AG and Engoron himself. 7/

They also have to give the monitor at least 30 days notice of any planned or anticipated restructuring of the Trump Organization” & its subsidiaries “or of any plans for disposing or refinancing of significant Trump Organization assets, or disposing significant liquidity.” 8/

What does that mean in plain English? Without telling the judge or the AG or Jones, the Trump Org. cannot just play three-card Monty & move their buildings or golf courses or even their cash around so they wind up in new business entities outside New York. 9/

Instead, at best, they have to give their adversaries, a court, and the court-appointed monitor a two-week head start, in which time they could be further enjoined. The bottom line is they’re mostly stuck in place—and on Friday, it could get much, much worse. FIN.