International Courant
NEW YORK (AP) — He has pushed a taxi, performed in a band and protested the Vietnam Struggle. As a decide in New York Metropolis, Arthur Engoron has resolved tons of of disputes, deciding every part from zoning and free speech points to a custody battle over a canine named “Stevie.”
Now, within the twilight of a distinguished two-decade profession on the bench, the erudite, Ivy League-educated decide presides over his largest case but: deciding the way forward for former President Donald Trump’s actual property empire.
Final week, Engoron dominated that Trump dedicated fraud for years by exaggerating his wealth and the worth of property on monetary statements he used to get loans and shut offers. As punishment, the decide mentioned he would liquidate a few of Trump’s companies — a choice that would end in him shedding management of key New York properties akin to Trump Tower.
Beginning Monday, Engoron will preside over a non-jury trial in Manhattan to resolve the remaining claims in New York Lawyer Normal Letitia James’ lawsuit towards Trump, his firm and high executives. He can even resolve on financial damages. James’ workplace is demanding $250 million.
Trump, who’s listed as a possible witness and will face Engoron in courtroom, known as the decide’s fraud ruling “the demise penalty for firms.” He known as Engoron a “political hack” and mentioned he would attraction.
“I’ve a deranged Trump-hating decide who has moved this FAKE CASE via a NYS courtroom at a charge by no means seen earlier than,” the 2024 Republican front-runner wrote on his Reality Social platform.
By a courtroom spokesperson, Engoron declined to touch upon Trump’s barbs. He’s banned from commenting on the case to the information media.
Trump has typically not gone to courtroom within the many circumstances involving his firm. He was absent from a prison trial wherein the Trump Group and one in every of its high executives have been convicted of tax evasion and skipped a civil trial wherein he was discovered answerable for sexually assaulting author E. Jean Carroll. However when requested whether or not he deliberate to attend the trial in New York, Trump mentioned on Friday: “That is OK. I can.”
Engoron, a Democrat, has repeatedly spoken out towards Trump within the three years he has presided over James’ trial. He compelled Trump to make a press release, held him in contempt and fined him $110,000.
Now Engoron is poised to perpetually disrupt the gathering of skyscrapers, golf programs and different properties that made Trump well-known and the White Home.
At a listening to within the case final Wednesday, the day after his ruling, Engoron provided “a bit of little bit of New York humor” to interrupt the strain. He repeated an oft-told story a couple of decide who finally agreed with everybody who spoke within the case. his courtroom.
A fan of puns and popular culture references, Engoron routinely turns to humor – even throughout probably the most critical hearings and choices.
“We may actually use it at this time,” mentioned Trump lawyer Christopher Kise.
Engoron, a number of years youthful than Trump at 74, spent his early years in Queens, about 4 miles east of the previous president’s childhood residence.
Engoron’s household later moved to East Williston on Lengthy Island, the place he ran monitor and wrote for the coed newspaper at The Wheatley College, a public highschool in Outdated Westbury, New York, graduating in 1967.
A proud alum, Engoron is the founder and director of the college’s alumni affiliation and writes a web based publication with information of fellow graduates who’ve nicknamed him “Mayor of Wheatley.” Final 12 months he even posted a hyperlink to an article about his involvement within the Trump case.
On the finish of a publication, he positioned a humorous name to motion: “Please ship me your autobiography earlier than another person sends me your obituary.”
Engoron first made headlines in 1964, when he and three associates received the highest prize in a “Banner Day” contest wherein the New York Mets, then simply two years into their existence, invited followers to parade across the discipline sporting banners painted with artistic messages. in regards to the staff.
In an early signal of Engoron’s irreverence, the message impressed a well-liked political quote of the time: “Extremism in protection of the Mets just isn’t a vice.” Engoron was solely 15 on the time.
Whereas attending Columbia College within the Sixties, Engoron drove a taxi — a truth he revealed a decade in the past when he spoke out towards then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan to develop yellow cab service outdoors New York Metropolis. A state appeals courtroom later reversed that call.
Engoron’s statements are stuffed with biographical info, half full openness, half nostalgia. He revealed in a single determination that he took half in “massive, generally boisterous protests towards the warfare in Vietnam.” He additionally described himself as a free speech absolutist and mentioned he has been a member of the American Civil Liberties Union since 1994.
Engoron obtained his regulation diploma from New York College in 1979. He has labored as a trial lawyer and clerked for a decide for eleven years in the identical courtroom the place he now sits. Engoron additionally taught piano and drums and performed keyboard in what he describes as a “pretty profitable” bar band. He has been married 3 times and has 4 kids, in line with his biography on the Wheatley alumni web page.
Engoron joined the courtroom in 2003 as a decide on the New York Metropolis Civil Courtroom, which hears small claims and different lower-stakes lawsuits. In 2013, he was appointed performing state courtroom decide and in 2015 ran unopposed for a everlasting put up. His time period runs till 2029, though New York requires judges at his stage to retire once they flip 76.
A former clerk, Michelle Bernstein Ravenscroft, mentioned she remembered Engoron “being pleasant and approachable and going out of his approach to make sure his clerks had a very good studying expertise with him.”
Engoron usually peppers his statements with tune lyrics, film quotes and the occasional New York Metropolis historical past lesson. He quoted Bob Dylan and Shakespeare and movies like “Metropolis Slickers” and the Marx Brothers traditional “Duck Soup.” He indicators them with some type of brand, his initials, AE, drawn collectively in a circle.
In 2017, Engoron turned to the Frank Sinatra hit “Love and Marriage,” which, the tune says, “goes collectively like a horse and buggy” for a press release that curtailed horse-drawn carriage protests in Central Park defined. He punitively named a subsection ‘Balancing of the Equines, er, Equities’.
In a 2015 ruling on the custody of “Stevie” – a feminine, mixed-breed, part-Basenji – Engoron provided a philosophical dialogue about animal rights – or lack thereof – whereas reiterating his earlier ruling, which tried to the regulation stood, was reversed. the very best pursuits of the pet.
“Granting rights to animals would create the final word slippery slope,” he mentioned, reasoning that “if canine are alleged to have rights, why not cats, raccoons, squirrels, fish, ants and cockroaches? Are you able to get jail time for killing a fly? The place will all of it finish?”
In one other assertion, Engoron mentioned the evaluation course of for brand new housing in New York “looks like Rube Goldberg, Franz Kafka and the Marquis de Sade made it up over martinis.”
Engoron has been concerned in Trump-related circumstances since 2020, when he was assigned to intervene in arguments between Trump’s attorneys and James’ workplace over calls for for proof and the route of its investigation.
Trump’s attorneys needed James’ lawsuit transferred to a decide within the courtroom’s business division, which was created to deal with complicated company disputes, however an administrative decide stayed the case at Engoron, citing his expertise with the case .
Again within the courtroom final Wednesday, as Trump’s attorneys reached a uncommon consensus with James’ workplace on procedural points, Engoron despatched one final joke.
“I knew this case was going to be a lovefest,” he mentioned.
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Who’s Arthur Engoron? Choose weighing the way forward for the Donald Trump empire is an Ivy League-educated ex-taxi driver
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