Upstater jailed for threats
DA: Texts warned Tish, Engoron to drop Trump fraud case – or die
An upstate man allegedly threatened state Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan judge Arthur Engoron with “death and physical harm” if they didn’t drop the civil fraud case against Donald Trump.
Tyler Vogel, 26, of Lancaster, faces felony charges for allegedly making terroristic threats against James and Engoron in a series of late-night texts on March 24, according to court records. Vogel, who also faces aggravated harassment charges, obtained their phone numbers through a paid website, the Erie County district attorney’s office alleged, declining to identify the AG or the judge as the targets.
Vogel was held without bail at his arraignment last week pending the outcome of a forensic examination and is expected to appear back in court on April 9. Lancaster Town Court Justice David Stabler ordered him to refrain from contacting the AG or the judge.
Representatives for the AG and the state Office of Court Administration declined to comment. The alleged threats are the latest in a steady stream levied against officials involved in Trump’s New York cases over the past 12 months. Engoron’s Long Island home was targeted with a bogus bomb threat ahead of closing arguments at the fraud trial in January.
Trump was found liable for large-scale fraud on both ends of his Manhattan Supreme Court civil fraud trial that lasted almost three months. In a pretrial ruling, Engoron found that Trump and his top company executives at the Trump Organization exaggerated the values of his properties for years in annual financial statements, sometimes by billions, as they sought fruitful loan terms and other benefits they weren’t entitled to while doing business.
After the trial, Engoron determined the fraud was intentional and that Trump and his execs broke multiple state laws. He ordered them to pay at least $464 million in penalties, including interest, with the vast majority of that sum owed by Trump. The judge also placed the company under yearslong strict supervision and issued temporary industry bans against Trump and his sons, Eric and Don Jr., as well as permanent bans against former finance executives Allen Weisselberg and Jeffrey McConney.
Trump’s legal defense team argued that the conduct was standard in the real estate biz, that banks and lenders were warned to do their own homework, and that the former president always repaid his loans.
The industry bans are temporarily on ice as Trump and his execs fight to get the judgments overturned. An appeals court recently allowed Trump to post a bond of $175 million as a guarantee he’ll be good to cough up around half a billion dollars if he loses his appeal down the line after his lawyers said it was “practically impossible” to come up with the total amount. According to The New York Times, Trump secured the mammoth sum from California auto loan billionaire Don Hankey, known for offering high-interest loans to borrowers with bad credit.
Vogel faces up to seven years in prison if convicted. The Daily News could not identify his lawyer to request comment.