Former President Donald Trump could soon face the dissolution of his New York business empire for continuously misleading lenders on financial statements despite a lack of victims and major losses that traditionally prompt such a grave punishment.   

In the last 70 years, only about a dozen civil cases have had as severe consequences. Yet Trump’s case is entirely unique because it is the only major business threatened with being shut down without proof of severe losses and clear victims, according to an Associated Press report. In New York’s anti-fraud law, or Executive Law 63(12), the attorney general just has to show evidence of “repeated fraudulent or illegal acts,” regardless of whether anyone lost money or was deceived.

“This is basically a death penalty for a business,” Columbia University law professor Eric Talley told the outlet. “Is he getting his just desserts because of the fraud, or because people don’t like him?” 

State attorneys in Trump’s civil trial argue that his violation of ethical business practices deserves severe consequences, but legal experts are reportedly concerned that if Trump is found liable and suffers the maximum penalty, it will set a precedent that could destroy businesses in the future.

In the publication’s analysis of 150 cases, of the nearly dozen that called for “dissolution,” significant losses and victims were present. 

In fact, there was only one case in which a company was liquidated without presenting any victims or losses: a “relatively small” business that wrote essays for college students was shut down in 1972; the then-attorney general cited the victim as the “integrity of the educational process.”  

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Last year, Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that Trump had committed business fraud by sending exaggerated financial statements to Deutsche Bank for 11 years. Engoron partly sided with New York Attorney General Leticia James’s recommendation, which deemed Trump liable for repeated business fraud. James asked that he be barred from ever doing business in the Empire State and demanded he pay $370 million. 

Engoron said he will issue a decision in the next couple of weeks that clarifies the dissolution of the liquidation of Trump’s properties, as well as the cash penalty.