Shark Tank’s O’Leary on $355M decision against Trump: ‘What fraud?’

“Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary said in an interview with CNN host Laura Coates on Monday that a New York judge ordered former President Trump to pay a $355 million fine in a civil fraud case. condemned the decision.

Mr. O’Leary argued that the sentence against Mr. Trump was unfair and that what the former president and the Trump Organization were accused of happens all the time in New York real estate transactions.

“What fraud? This is no longer a Trump issue,” O’Leary told Coates. “You have a developer who is building a building and says the building is worth $400 million and wants to borrow $200 million from the bank. Things like this happen every day everywhere on the planet. Masu.”

He argued that it was the bank’s responsibility to see through exaggerated financial claims by developers and that Trump’s behavior was normal.

“That haggling has been going on for decades,” he continued. “That’s how it works.”

The fraud case found that Trump falsely altered his net worth and the value of various properties in order to obtain more favorable loan terms. New York state claimed he sent false information to banks and insurance companies, which the state said was evidence of fraud.

As part of the decision, Trump was also banned from working in real estate in New York for three years.

“If you’re going to do that, let’s penalize every developer in America. They all did the same thing,” O’Leary added. “They should all be in jail and we should stop building. That’s the message from New York.”

O’Leary’s comments Monday came after he first criticized the ruling and said he would avoid investing in New York because of the precedent it set.

“I was already at the top of the list of loser states. I would never invest in New York now,” O’Leary said in an interview on FOX Business on Monday. “And I’m not the only one saying that.”

Coates and O’Leary interjected and paused during their conversation, but O’Leary steered the conversation back to what it meant for developers.

“Why are we going to New York? Why are we taking the risk?” O’Leary said. “The only thing I’m saying is, we’ve degraded the great state of New York and the great people of New York.”