The Daily Fuckup

On Dec. 4, 2023, Donald Trump’s New York civil fraud case was still being tried in state court. It was a bench trial, not a jury case, and Judge Arthur Engoron had not yet issued a final decision. The attorney general’s office was still presenting its allegations that Trump and entities he controlled used false or misleading statements of financial condition to inflate asset values in pursuit of better business terms. ([ag.ny.gov](https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2023-04/tto_complaint.pdf))

The complaint filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James said Trump’s annual statements of financial condition had, for years, assigned values to properties and other assets that the state says were fraudulent and misleading. Those statements, the complaint said, were used in commercial transactions that helped support loans and other financial benefits. That was the core accusation being litigated in December 2023. ([ag.ny.gov](https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2023-04/tto_complaint.pdf))

By Dec. 4, though, the matter was still open. The trial would continue for days after that date, with the attorney general later announcing that the office rested its case on Dec. 13, 2023. Judge Engoron’s decision and order came later, on Feb. 16, 2024, after the non-jury trial ended and closing arguments were heard in January. ([ag.ny.gov](https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2023/attorney-general-james-issues-statement-completion-trial-against-donald-trump))

So the accurate snapshot for Dec. 4 is simple: the fraud trial was not finished, no judgment had been entered, and the court had not yet resolved the state’s claims. What existed that day was a live record, a running evidentiary fight, and an unresolved case over whether Trump’s financial reporting crossed the line into fraud. ([ag.ny.gov](https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/decisions/trump-decision.pdf))