Second, while the civil law, like the criminal law, makes fraud illegal, the New York State statute at issue in Judge Arthur F. Engoron’s 35-page ruling is nightmarishly broad and draconian.

Executive Law 65(12) outlaws engaging in “repeated” and “persistent” fraud in business dealings. Well, okay, but if one engaged in such an egregious pattern of behavior, surely we’d expect to find some victims, right? At least one victim? I mean, if you’re going to incinerate a multibillion-dollar international conglomerate, shouldn’t there be, you know, a bank that lost, if not millions in depositor savings, at least a few bucks? Especially if, as in James’s case, at issue are more than a dozen years of financial dealings.

But here: There’s no victim. No harm to any creditor or investor. No bank or insurance company brought in to say, “Donald Trump ruined us … or at least profoundly damaged us … or maybe, you know, shaved a few shekels off some middle-manager’s annual bonus.”

[McCarthy points out that Trump and his team spun the Mar-a-Lago assessment ruling too, failing to note that the use restrictions make it far less valuable than other nearby properties. However, $18 million seems still far too low a valuation, and raises the question as to whether Letitia James and Judge Engoron himself aren’t indulging in the same kind of fraud of which they accuse Trump. — Ed]