Anger over a $355 million civil judgment against former President Donald Trump has major investors reconsidering doing business with New York.
Real estate mogul Grant Cardone said Wednesday his firm Cardone Capital will no longer underwrite New York real estate in the wake of Judge Arthur Engoron's ruling Friday in a civil lawsuit brought by Democrat New York Attorney General Letitia James that also prevents Trump from doing business in the state for three years.
"Immediately discontinue ALL underwriting on New York City real estate," Cardone posted Wednesday on X. "The risk outweigh the opportunities at this time. Recent political decisions will continue to deteriorate price and benefit states that don't have these challenges.
"Focus on Texas & Florida."
Cardone is the second high-profile investor this week to state they will no longer invest in the state. "Shark Tank" host Kevin O'Leary said Monday 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," O'Leary told Fox Business. "I can't even understand or fathom the decision at all. There's no rationale for it."
In a post Monday on Truth Social, Trump wrote: "Kevin O'Leary is so great, and tells it like it is. Businesses will flee NYC & State after the Corrupt Judge's ruling!"
Cardone told Fox News on Wednesday when Engoron issued his ruling, "it was like, 'Pencils down. Don't touch it. Don't go there.' "
"We invest for 14,000 investors at Cardone Capital that depend on cash flow," Cardone said. "And if I can't predict the cash flow because of some ruling, or because of the migrants, or because I can't evict people, New York City just keeps doing every single thing they can to sell real estate in Florida, not sell real estate in New York."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.