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December 24, 2009
State Officials Help Ratner Set Himself Up For a Much Bigger Loss
Noticing New York
Among other things Ratner sidestepped proper use of a public agency to issue the bonds. Instead, in a jury-rigged maneuver a private 501(c)(3) not-for-profit was set up to bypass various laws and procedures. The public officials who stepped outside their prescribed roles and public duties to assist him to take these risks have already been determined in court to have been acting in bad faith to implement pretextual schemes in almost exactly the same situation in the Columbia eminent domain case.
Of course Ratner should be considered a big boy who knows the risks he has taken. This should be clear because the Preliminary Offering Statement for the bonds had Ratner, rather than lawyers, provide an assessment of the litigation risks. Nevertheless, our government officials have never treated Ratner as a big boy who should be assuming his own risks. Instead, they have repeatedly stepped in with the merest of excuses to bail him out each and every time he wails about hardship.
Posted by eric at December 24, 2009 12:48 AM