New York businesses may leave the state following New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron's historic $364 million verdict against Donald Trump, top financial services executives told the New York Post.
They already considered the New York State Attorney General’s Office a major obstruction to doing business, starting with former Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, aka the sheriff of Wall Street. Despite forcing financial firms to fork over billions, Spitzer’s cases primarily focused on minor offenses.
The office has liberally used state laws, such as the Martin act, for political advancement, according to the Post.
In the cases against Trump and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York Attorney General Letitia James has taken Spitzer’s strategies to a new level, Wall Street executives say.
Trump’s case centered on his real estate company’s valuations for its properties on loan applications to a major bank that did its own due diligence.
James ran for office repeatedly vowing she would prosecute Trump. Just for that alone — believe business leaders, most of whom are not supporters of Trump — James should have been disqualified.
The attorney general’s case against Cuomo was based on sex-offense accusations that never materialized in court — but forced Cuomo from office.
Wall Street bigs are astounded at Friday’s judgment against Trump, the attorney general’s thirst for power, leftists running theNew York Legislature, and Gov. Kathy Hochul making the state unlivable.
They also fear George Soros-funded Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
This is why major companies are now considering joining Goldman Sachs, which is moving to Texas; hedge funds pulling up stakes for Florida; and private equity titans like Blackstone leaving for Miami.
Bloomberg estimated $2 trillion in assets have left New York and California for Texas, Florida, and other Sun Belt states where the cost of living is as much as 40% cheaper. Rampant crime, high taxes, and exorbitant housing costs have been their main reasons for leaving — and now they can add to that a hostile political and legal environment.
In the three years through March 2023, 370 major investment firms with $2.7 trillion in assets under management — 2.5% of the total assets managed by investment firms in the U.S. — moved their headquarters to a new state.
Even North Carolina and Tennessee saw more than $600 billion in assets seek refuge, primarily due to AllianceBernstein’s jump from New York to Nashville in 2021 and Allspring Global Investment giving up San Francisco for Charlotte in 2022.
The mass migration is taking a toll on California’s and New York’s tax revenue base, as well as career prospects for financial professionals. In 1990, 33% of all U.S. financial industry jobs were in New York, but by last year, New York’s share of these jobs had shrunk to 17.6%.
“It’s embarrassing what you have to put up with to do business here,” one top executive told the Post. “We look like idiots staying here.”