“Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary in an interview with CNN host Laura Coates on Monday blasted a New York judge’s decision ordering former President Trump to pay $355 million in penalties in his civil fraud case.
O’Leary argued the decision against Trump is unjust, and that what the former president and Trump Organization were accused of happens all the time in New York real estate deals.
“What fraud? This is not about Trump anymore,” O’Leary told Coates. “You get a developer that builds a building and he says it’s worth $400 million, and he wants to borrow $200 million from a bank, which happens every day, everywhere on earth.”
He argued that it’s the bank’s responsibility to see through developers’ exaggerated financial claims, and that Trump’s actions are normal.
“That haggling has gone on for decades,” he continued. “That’s how it works.”
In the fraud case, Trump was found to have falsely altered his net worth and the value of various properties in order to receive more favorable borrowing terms. New York state had argued he sent the false information to banks and insurers, which the state purported is evidence of fraud.
Trump was also banned from the real estate business in New York for three years as part of the decision.
“If we’re going to do that, let’s penalize all the developers all across America. They’ve all done the same thing,” O’Leary added. “All of them should go to jail and we should stop building buildings. That’s what the message is from New York.”
O’Leary’s comments Monday come after he first denounced the ruling, saying he would avoid investing in New York because of the precedent the verdict sets.
“It was already on the top of the list of being a loser state. I would never invest in New York now,” O’Leary said in a Fox Business interview Monday. “And I’m not the only person saying that.”
Coates and O’Leary spoke over and interrupted each other during the exchange, but O’Leary did bring the conversation back to what it could mean for developers.
“Why would we go to New York? Why take the risk?” O’Leary said. “My only point is, did we just diminish the great state of New York and the great people of New York?”