Incorrect, the New York state lost property tax revenue
no one was defrauded
Incorrect, the New York state was, hence they brought the case
no victim came forward
Incorrect, the New York state came forward
no banks claimed fraud
Did they need to?
no reporting of misconduct by a lender was made
Did they need to and why would they, they wanted paid.
The fraud as alleged occurred in the process of up selling an asset for the purposes of borrowing (not telling the truth on financial statements, eg wild exaggerations of square footage or the numbers of properties that could be build in a development) vs the down selling of an asset for paying taxes.
It really is quite simple.
If I tell the bank my ~30,000 sqft apartment is worth X dollars and they value that ~30,000 sqft apartment for the purposes of a loan but I then tell the state government that same ~30,000 sqft apartment is actually ~10,000 sqft for the purposes of property tax, then clearly there is a discrepancy.
It matters not if the loan is paid back, the property tax should be paid on this 30,000 sqft apartment.
You'll say the banks should have done their own due diligence but that's not how this this works for high rollers, they game the system with a team of accountants and lawyers that run over gaps in the system until they are caught. Then they argue in courts for years and that's where you are at.
Now I understand you're not happy about it but it is what it is. If you don't want to run foul of the law don't provide opportunity.
