« How would you compare the fraud you’re alleging to the Madoff Ponzi scheme, » Trump’s fraud-trial judge asked Thursday.
In a possible bad omen for Donald Trump, the judge in his New York fraud trial interrupted Thursday’s closing arguments to ask a lawyer for the New York attorney general’s office to compare him to Bernie Madoff.
« I often say I don’t enforce morality, I enforce the law, » the judge presiding over the three-month non-jury trial, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, said at the end of day-long closing arguments — which included a surprise statement by Trump himself.
« But in a case like this, there is some place for morality, » Engoron continued, addressing Kevin Wallace, a lead lawyer for New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office brought the $370 million lawsuit now heading to verdict.
« How would you compare the fraud you’re alleging to the Madoff Ponzi scheme? » the judge asked.
« It’s smaller, » Wallace answered, « in that there were a smaller number of people affected.
