The judge and the DA should both be disbarred after this is over.
I'm no expert in real estate, but basically, I understand that a given community has a certain operating cost which they must finance through taxation of the private properties within. So, your tax assessment is partly based on the area of the land you own (percentage of the community) + what you have developed on it, that way, you pay your fair share of the cost of community development from roads and infrastructure, to the cost of police, borough staff, road crews, materials, parks, etc.
But the private valuation of the fair market value that another might pay is SPECULATIVE. By definition, it is upwardly mobile. It is totally separate from its mere tax assessment value. The fair market value is based on supply, demand, and whatever it is worth or you can get another to pay for it. These are two totally separate figures, yet this idiot judge is trying to say that Trump committed fraud by assessing its potential market value in the hundreds of millions when even I can produce endless examples of comparable and smaller properties that have actually SOLD for that amount!
And it isn't like Trump pulled the figures out of his ass; his estimates are based on the opinions of experts in the community used to buying and selling such properties, yet the judge is ignoring all of that and claiming Trump cheated by not claiming its marketable value was no greater than its static tax assessment, which is clearly absurd.
Somewhat similar to having a piece of jewelry once owned by Elvis. The judge is saying that Trump committed fraud by not declaring the value of the bracelet based on the raw value of the melted gold and jewels, maybe $1000, while there are collectors of Elvis memorabilia out there who at auction, might pay up to $1,000,000 to own so rare and personal a thing Elvis once wore!
Apples and oranges. No one in the real estate community agrees that Trump committed fraud by his assessor estimating the fair market value of the property as a special and rare, vast estate based upon what the property might bring in a private sale to a desirous, wealthy buyer, yet the judge is claiming fraud because Trump didn't short-change himself claiming only the taxation value of the property. Exotic properties have an ever-increasingly wide disparity between assessed and fair market value. Clearly, if sold, the property would bring at least 300-500 million dollars upwards of maybe 800 million IMO, further, the BANKS do their own checking so there is no possibility Trump "cheated" them.
Then there is the complexity in whether the property is used as a social club or a private residence and the income it could bring. Trump would be insane to declare the value of this property at only 18 million in applying for loans, etc., when clearly, he can sell it and easily get at least 200-300 million for it up to possibly 3X that figure.
The judge is a flaming asshole.
I mean, just the cost of BUILDING the place, projected from inflation from the time of building alone projects the cost of just building the place today at around 90 million dollars.
