Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary said Monday he will no longer invest in New York in response to a $355 million judgment issued against former president Donald Trump in a state court last week.
New York judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to pay the massive sum for conspiring, the court ruled, to alter his net worth to receive tax and insurance benefits. The order also prevents Trump from doing business in New York for three years. The decision was the conclusion of a months-long civil fraud trial that New York attorney general Letitia James brought against the former president, the Trump organization, and his executives.
During an appearance on Fox Business, O’Leary said he was “shocked” by the ruling. “This award, I mean, just leaving the whole Trump thing out of it and seeing what occurred here. . . . And I’m no different than any other investor, I’m shocked at this. I can’t even understand or fathom the decision at all. There’s no rationale for it.”
“It was already on the top of the list of being a loser state, I would never invest in New York now,” he added. “And I’m not the only person saying that.”
He suggested that businesses will flee New York to go to more business-friendly states such as Texas and Florida, and he brushed off New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s attempt to reassure business owners after the landmark ruling.
“I think that this is really an extraordinary, unusual circumstance that the law-abiding and rule-following New Yorkers who are business people have nothing to worry about, because they’re very different than Donald Trump and his behavior,” Hochul said.
“We’re very worried, every investor is worried because where is the victim? Who lost the money? This is some arbitrary decision a judge made,” O’Leary said. “This policy . . . what does this say about the bar? About the legal bar in New York? Aren’t they going to question this judge? What is this?”
“I’m sorry her words fall on deaf ears to everybody,” he added. “There’s nothing she can say to justify this decision. And this has nothing to do with Trump, nothing to do with Trump. Forget about Trump, this is not a Trump situation, this is a New York problem.”
Trump, for his part, praised O’Leary in a post on Truth Social.
“Kevin O’Leary is so great, and tells it like it is. Businesses will flee NYC & State after the Corrupt Judge’s ruling!” he wrote.