Kevin O’Leary to Coates on Trump’s Fraud Trial: ‘Excuse Me, What Fraud?’

COATES: “Because there are probably a lot who are saying to themselves, ‘I‘ve never falsified my business records. I know what a square foot looks like. I know what I can ask for and what I have the money to support.’ So I wonder to what extent that really is true. But on the second point, wouldn‘t there be many companies who would not want to do business or loan money to people like yourself for investors if they know that they can get away with fraud and there‘s no recourse to protect them?”
O’LEARY: “Excuse me, what fraud? This is not about Trump anymore. When you get a developer — when 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, including every American city, every developers and entrepreneur, they shine the light on their building and they say it‘s worth 400. The bank does its own due diligence, as was done in this case, because they‘re very good at it, at the banks are very good, and they say, ‘No, it‘s worth 300. We’re only going to loan you 150 million. That haggling has gone on for decades. That‘s how it works. And then in this case, even, the bank that was supposedly defrauded testified and said, ‘We didn‘t lose anything. We want to do business with this guy again. We‘d like to.’ But the judge said, ‘No, no, no, no, no, no. Let‘s penalize this developer for 355 million.’ And if we‘re going to do that, let‘s penalize all the developers all across America. They‘ve all done the same thing. All of them should go to jail and we should stop building buildings. That‘s what the message is from New York. Even the governor herself is concerned about what this looks like to investors all around the world. It‘s not just U.S. domestic. All around the world people are talking about what happened here. You really think people want to invest money in New York after this? How about we go somewhere else — “
COATES: “Well, I think there are people — I don‘t want to cut you off, but I want to converse with you instead.”
O’LEARY: “You just did.”
COATES: “It‘s only because I want to have a conversation, Kevin, as opposed to you just tell me.”
O’LEARY: “You know what, I respect you because you‘re a lawyer. You‘re a lawyer. You understand exactly what I‘m talking about.”
COATES: “I gotta tell you, I‘m respectable for a number of reasons, Kevin O’Leary, but being a lawyer is one of those issues. But I‘ll tell you, when I hear your conversation, I do want to converse with you about this point. I understand that there are legitimate concerns that were raised during the trial and will continue to be raised about who the quote/unquote — who is actually bringing the suit. It wasn‘t the banks who were saying that, ‘We as consumers are unsophisticated, feel this way,’ but Letitia James, the attorney general — and I know you want expand beyond Trump — has suggested, ‘Well, it‘s about making the playing field level for those who are not the major and billionaire investors, but for those who are supposed to put business records out there, want to get a loan.’ The idea of making sure that they have to have the same true statements included as those who have a lot more money. Is there any weight to that for you?”
O’LEARY: “Well, I asked you, who lost money? And I’ll make it even clearer. You and I, we’re developing a data center together and I say to you — we can go to New York where this just happened. It‘s your money now. You‘re now an investor and you‘re taking risks, you are an entrepreneur with me right beside me, we’re together on the deal, or I can show you Oklahoma, North Dakota, West Virginia, where the governor‘s actually ran businesses. Let‘s go there, where this never happened before. They have power, they have permits, they‘ve got legislation that‘s supportive of entrepreneurship. Why would we go to New York? Why take the risk? My only point is, did we just diminish the great state of New York and the great people of New York? And shouldn‘t they ask for better management so they don‘t become a flyover state? Remember, New York has the highest taxes in the country, the worst regulatory environment, and it‘s incredibly mismanaged. And I’m pointing out now, on top of that, you get this insanity. A victimless crime — and forget about Trump. It‘s not about Trump. I don‘t care about Trump in this. I care about America, and I care about entrepreneurship, and I care about democracy and the fairness. The judicial system is now being criticized. People are asking themselves, the Bar of New York, is this judge rational to charge 355 million in a case where no one lost any money? Is that good for the people of New York? Shouldn’t the people of New York wake up to this and say, ‘What‘s happening to us? Why is this becoming so perverse? Why are we the focus of this injustice?’ And I‘ve nothing to do with Trump. I‘m not supporting Trump. I‘m supporting American entrepreneurship, and New York is slowly becoming the number one loser state in America. I‘m sorry, that‘s what‘s happening.”