Thought For The Day - 2 October 2023

Xi Donjon and his acolytes are bleating to a faretheewell, out of court, of course; there be sanctions from Da Judge for such behavior if they pulled such stunts in front of Da Judge. Chief among these bleats: no harm, no foul; we never missed a payment on these loans. Which sounds like a sound argument, until one considers the whole point of the fraud: get a smaller vig. Now, the fact of the lying is fraud in and of itself, which is how Xi Donjon got hoisted on his petard, so it matters not whether the loans were repaid on schedule. But would they have been as easily paid off if the loans had been based on the true value of the collateral? How much more would the vig be, in that circumstance? Only the Shadow knows. Perhaps James does, and we'll find out as the trial progresses. I'll bet Tim O'brien has an inkling.

... had written that Trump was not a billionaire and that his net worth actually ranged between $150 million and $250 million.

That's in 2005 dollars. Trump sued for $5 billion. Lost, of course. Alas, O'Brien is bound by NDA.