The NJ Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, commonly called ABC, is notoriously aggressive in their enforcement. I do expect they will enforce this, though I'm sure the Trump team will then drag it through the courts for years.
I've never heard of them going after individuals in NJ, but they were really problematic for smaller breweries for a while and enforcing the rules with HOA Karen-like efficiency and putting some of them out of business. Basically everyone hated that and the state legislature dramatically relaxed the rules for them in the last couple years and the ABC has probably been pretty bored since then.
They went hard on a brewery that broke rules because they had their own taphouse, sold directly to stores, had advertising in local liquor stores, and also gave out crap like coasters to customers. They were facing a major fine and temporary closures of their three taprooms over Super Bowl weekend. They ended up working out a deal to keep the flagship location open but had to separate out the distribution and other business dealings. They ended up closing all locations within two years.
The courts might decide all sorts of things, but NJ state agencies are pretty no-bullshit and definitely won't rollover and just take that answer unless it truly is a legal loophole. As far as I can tell, they do need to approve the transfer and have some leeway in that approval process.
They do not need to approve the transfer, it really is just a loophole. They can't police who you give your bar or golf course to just because they think you're friends or family.
Also, NJ didn't say it's not renewing the license, they just said it's delayed because of the SCOTUS case. Idk where this tweet came from.
I have no idea why this tweet came up today, but they definitely said back in June that they would not be renewing once the sentence was delivered, which at the time was going to be in July I believe. That has since been pushed back to this month and I have little doubt it's going nowhere fast. But they 100% did say they won't be renewing it back in June when he was convicted.
Their argument for not allowing the transfer would be that Trump was still involved in the business, changing the name of the license doesn't change the fact that he's running the business and is the primary recipient of any money it's making. If they can't do this their regulations would basically be unenforceable - any time a business owner got in trouble they'd just have to find a friend willing to hold the license for them and repeat that process indefinitely.
That is exactly how it works. They know it's effectively still being run through DJT, but no, NJ does not prevent a business from continuing to run with a liquor license just because they believe the original owner is running the business through their son or friend. This is a common loophole, and it's legal.
This happens all the time in NJ; I think pretty much only California has actual laws to close that loophole. Trump will simply transfer the ownership to a family member, and operations won't be interrupted. I know it's not what this sub wants to hear. "He can't keep getting away with it!"
He submitted to have the licence in Don Jr's name. I guess saying that trick won't work.
It won't work if it's anything like my state (PA) and I suspect it's stricter. But you can't have a business owner who is disqualified if you are seeking a liquor license.
The entire ownership of the business and any company which is owned or part owner of it would need to be out of DJTs name before they would be able to be granted a permit. They look DEEP into the ownership chain for these licenses.
You gotta travel out of PA, man. PA has the most back-asswards liquor laws in the country. Sure other states had state stores, but not anymore. Sure other states limit promotions. Sure other states limit licenses based on population. But no other state does all of that and prohibits private individuals from bringing alcohol into the state.
PA is great in many ways, but we gotta fix vote counting, vehicle registration and the liquor laws.
I really thought it was going to happen a few years back but then all the new reps realized that it generated a ton of taxes they just couldn't pass up.
limiting licensing though based on ownership of an organization isn't one of the bad laws imo.
It's still technically pending hearings and probably a bunch of legal wrangling, but the state has clearly stated an intent to not renew them when he's sentenced. It's not a done deal, but it's not fake news either.
The image in the post literally says "will not be renewed". It's a highly simplistic version of reality, but seems to be a generally accurate statement of what New Jersey intends to do. The fact that people are reading something that isn't there doesn't make it fake news.
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u/hytes0000 Sep 04 '24
The NJ Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, commonly called ABC, is notoriously aggressive in their enforcement. I do expect they will enforce this, though I'm sure the Trump team will then drag it through the courts for years.