Legal Experts Unpack NY’s “Intent To Defraud” Requirement And Explain How It Applies To Trump Case
An important question being raised regarding the indictment of former President Donald Trump by the Manhattan District Attorney is whether maintaining false business records to conceal hush money payments in a political campaign meets the “intent to defraud” element of New York’s Falsifying Business Records statute. The indictment will be made public on Tuesday.In this regard, the law is firmly on the side of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, according to legal experts Ryan Goodman, Amb. Norman Eisen (ret.), Siven Watt, Joshua Kolb, and Joshua Stanton in a new analysis published today on Just Security.
Trump’s Attorney Jim Trusty has recently seized on the idea that the indictment will have a fundamental problem because the “intent to defraud” in New York law requires an intent to deprive a person of money or property.
“I could not put this more plainly: That argument is completely bogus,” according to Goodman, the lead author of the Just Security analysis, co-editor-in-chief at Just Security, and a professor at NYU School of Law.
“We do not think this question will give the DA’s office or Justice Juan Merchan much pause,” the authors of the Just Security analysis write. “Indeed, the jurisdiction in which this case will be brought – the First Department of New York – has settled law on the issue that defines ‘intent to defraud’ in broad terms that cover the allegations in the Trump case.”
According to the authors: “The New York case law offers clear guidance on the broad scope of the ‘intent to defraud’ for the offense of falsifying business records. […] In short, the Manhattan DA’s case rests on firm legal footing.”
Read the legal analysis on Just Security.
Hush Money And High Stakes: 10 Key Facts On Trump’s Legal Battle In Manhattan – Democracy 21
Survey Of Past Criminal Prosecutions For Covert Payments To Benefit A Political Campaign – Just Security
Detailed Chronology in Trump-Cohen Hush Money Investigation – Just Security
The Manhattan DA’s Charges And Trump’s Defenses: A Detailed Preview And Analysis – Just Security
Statement Of D21 President Fred Wertheimer On The Indictment Of Former President Trump – Democracy 21
Legal Experts Eisen, Vance, Weissmann React To Trump Indictment – Democracy 21
Eisen/Wertheimer/Stanton: The House GOP’s Manhattan DA Meddling Is Ugly, Partisan, And Potentially Unlawful – MSNBC
Goodman/Weissmann: Make No Mistake, The Investigation Of Donald Trump And The Stormy Daniels Scheme Is Serious – The New York Times
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