Recall that this question was a major bone of contention at the 2023–24 trial of New York Attorney General Letitia James’s civil fraud suit against now-President Trump. The theory of the fraud case was that Trump had grossly overvalued many of his assets in order to obtain favorable rates on loans and insurance coverage.

I was derisive of the case for various reasons. James unprecedentedly and improperly applied a consumer fraud statute to arm’s length transactions between sophisticated financial actors. There were no fraud victims. James (with the indulgence of her fellow-elected progressive Democrat, Judge Arthur Engoron) offered expert testimony calculating

© National Review