New York Faces Boycott From Republicans

Conservative businesspeople and public figures including investor Kevin O'Leary and author Scott Adams have vowed to stop doing business in New York, following the ruling that banned Donald Trump from running a company in the state for three years.

O'Leary, a Canadian businessman and television personality, told Fox Business on Monday that he would never invest in New York now, saying he was shocked at Judge Arthur Engoron's ruling. On Friday, Engoron—who is overseeing the New York Attorney General Letitia James' civil fraud case against Trump—ordered the former president to pay $355 million plus interest for lying about his wealth and inflating the value of his assets. The former president still denies any wrongdoing.

The judge, a Democrat, also banned Trump from serving as officer or director of any New York-based company for three years, while his eldest sons—Eric and Donald Jr.—are banned for two years. Trump's lawyer Alina Habba has already said she will appeal the decision, saying that the former president has done nothing wrong.

"I can't even understand or fathom the decision at all; there's no rationale for it," O'Leary said.

"It doesn't matter what the governor says; New York was already a loser state, like California is a loser state. There are many loser states because of policies, high taxes and uncompetitive regulations," he added. "It was already at the top of the list of loser states. I would never invest in New York now, and I'm not the only person saying that."

Newsweek contacted O'Leary via a message through his website for comment early on Tuesday.

O'Leary then mentioned Tennessee among the 'winner' states. The Canadian businessman said that his assessment was true, even "leaving the whole Trump thing out of it."

Author Scott Adams, who wrote the book Reframe Your Brain and created the Dilbert cartoon series, also announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he was "canceling all NYC business trips until the Trump property seizure is reversed. Also no new business with NY entities."

Portfolio, a division of publisher Penguin Random House, dropped Adams' book Reframe Your Brain last year after the author called Black Americans a "hate group" on his YouTube channel. He said white Americans should "get the hell away from Black people."

Trump, who remains the Republican presidential frontrunner, is facing 91 felony counts in four different criminal trials. He has denied any wrongdoing and maintained his innocence in all cases. The former president condemned Engoron's decision as politically motivated and said that businesses will flee New York state as a result of his ruling.

So far, an exodus of the size predicted by Trump is yet to materialize, though a few have vowed to boycott New York over the ruling. On Monday, several pro-Trump truckers called for fellow drivers to ditch the state on social media, but some have already toned down their threats since then.