A New York state judge on Friday found that Donald Trump and his companies engaged in a long-running scheme to defraud banks and others with financial statements that inflated Trump's assets and ordered them to pay $355 million. .
Although Trump does not have to pay the money right away as the appeals process continues, the ruling is still a stunning setback for the former president.
If he is ultimately forced to pay, the fine would be large on top of his previous sentence and could significantly reduce his financial assets. And it undermines the successful businessman's image as one that has been carefully orchestrated to enable his unlikely rise from reality TV star to once and perhaps future president.
Trump, who built a reputation as a real estate mogul, was also banned from serving as an officer or director of a New York company for three years and barred from receiving loans from banks registered in his home country.
His eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr., executive vice president of the Trump Organization, and Eric Trump were each ordered to pay $4 million and were barred from serving as directors of New York companies for two years. Former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg was ordered to pay $1 million.
James' office said the $364 million judgment, which would rise to $450 million with interest, would allow Trump Organization operations to continue. The judge reversed an earlier ruling to dissolve the former president's company. However, if the ruling is upheld, it will force changes at the top of the company.
“Justice has been served,” James said in a statement, calling the ruling “a great honor for this state, for this country, and for everyone who believes that we should all play by the same rules, including the former president.” It's a huge victory,” he said.
“Now, Donald Trump is finally being held accountable for his lies, his cheating, and his astonishing deceit. Because no one transcends that,” James said.
Trump's lawyers have vowed to appeal. Lawyer Alina Haba described the verdict as a “clear injustice” and “the culmination of years of politically fueled witch-hunts”. President Trump's attorney Christopher Kise said the outcome is “a severe and unconstitutional fine and corporate 'death penalty'” for Trump, his family and his business.
President Trump then took to social media to slam the judge as “crooked” and the attorney general as “corrupt.”
Judge Arthur Engoron issued the ruling after a two-and-a-half month trial in which the Republican presidential front-runner said under oath that he was the victim of a rigged legal system.
Engoron concluded that the expert witnesses who testified for the defense “simply denied reality” and that Trump and his co-defendants “failed to accept responsibility” for their actions.
“They didn't rob banks at gunpoint. Donald Trump is no Bernard Madoff. But the defendants are unable to admit the error of their ways,” Engoron, a Democrat, wrote. He said their “complete lack of repentance and remorse is almost pathological”.
“The fraud found here jumps off the page and shocks the conscience,” the judge added.
The stiff fine was a victory for New York State Attorney General Letitia James (D). She sued Trump, accusing him of building skyscrapers, golf courses and other real estate across the country that caused explosive damage, and not just harmless boasts. Bringing him wealth, fame, and the White House.
Ms. James sued Mr. Trump in 2022 under a state law that gives her the power to investigate persistent misconduct in business transactions.
The lawsuit accused Trump and his co-defendants of routinely inflating financial statements to create the illusion that Trump's fortune was worth more than it actually was. State attorneys said President Trump overstated his personal wealth by up to $3.6 billion a year.
State attorneys say that by presenting himself as wealthy, Mr. Trump was able to obtain more favorable loan terms, save on interest, and complete projects that he otherwise would not have completed. It is said that
Even before the trial began, Engoron ruled that James had proven that Trump's financial statements were fraudulent. A judge has ordered some of Trump's companies to be removed from his control and dissolved. The Court of Appeals reserved that decision.
In an earlier ruling, the judge found that Mr. Trump's financial statements falsely claimed, among other tricks, that his Trump Tower penthouse was nearly three times the size it actually was, and based on that belief, he was forced to pay $100,000 to his apartment in Palm Beach, Florida. It was determined that the property in Mar-a-Lago, located in the United States, had been overvalued. He claimed the property could be developed for housing, even though he had waived his right to develop it for uses other than the club.
Trump, one of 40 witnesses to testify at trial, said the financial statements actually understated his net worth and that the banks were conducting their own investigations and were not satisfied with Trump's business. He said that
“There were no victims. There was nothing,” Trump testified in November.
During the trial, Trump called the judge “extremely hostile” and the attorney general a “political hack.” In a six-minute denunciation speech during closing arguments in January, President Trump declared “I am innocent” and called the case “a fraud against me.”
Trump and his lawyers argued that an outside accountant who helped prepare the statement should have pointed out the discrepancies and that the document included a disclaimer absolving him of liability. They also argued that some of the claims were barred by statute of limitations.
The case is one of the legal headaches for Trump as he seeks a return to the White House. He was indicted four times last year, including in Georgia and Washington, D.C., on charges of plotting to overturn Democrat Joe Biden's loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election, and in Florida, on charges of hoarding classified documents. He is charged in Manhattan with falsifying business records related to hush money payments. He paid porn actor Stormy Daniels to represent him.
On Thursday, a judge confirmed that Trump's hush money trial will begin on March 25, and an Atlanta judge accused Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis of having a personal relationship with the special counsel in Georgia. He heard arguments on whether to dismiss him from office in a state election interference case. I was hired.
While these criminal charges do not appear to hinder his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, the civil suit threatens him financially.
On January 26, a jury awarded President Trump 83.3 million yen for defaming author E. Jean Carroll, who accused him in 2019 of sexually assaulting her at a Manhattan department store in the 1990s. ordered to pay $. That's more than the $5 million a jury awarded Carroll in a related trial last year.
In 2022, the Trump Organization was convicted of tax evasion in an unrelated criminal case and fined $1.6 million for helping executives evade taxes on luxury perks such as Manhattan apartments and luxury cars. .
Trump's testimony included personal attacks on judges and state attorneys general, which he called “political hacks.” Erica Byfield reports.
James had asked the judge to fine him at least $370 million.
Engoron decided to take the case because neither side is seeking a jury and state law does not allow for a jury in this type of case.
Because the case was civil, not criminal, there was no possibility of jail time.
James, who ran for president as a critic and watchdog of Mr. Trump, testified before Congress that Mr. Trump exaggerated his wealth in financial statements he provided to Deutsche Bank in an effort to obtain acquisition funds. In March 2019, he began scrutinizing his business practices. Buffalo Bills of the NFL.
Mr. James' office previously accused Mr. Trump of misusing his charitable foundation to further his political and business interests. Trump was ordered to pay $2 million in fines to a series of charities, and his charity, the Trump Foundation, was shut down.
Trump incorporated the Trump Organization in New York in 1981. Mr. Trump still owns the company, but placed his assets in a revocable trust and gave up his positions as director, president, and chairman of the company upon taking office, giving control of the company to Mr. Eric. I left it to you.Trump and Donald Trump Jr.
Trump did not return to his declared leadership position when he left the White House in 2021, but his sons testified that he was involved in some decision-making.
Engoron had already appointed former federal judge Barbara Jones as a warden to oversee the company.
For the first time, we saw the beginning of Donald Trump's civil fraud trial caught on camera inside a lower Manhattan courtroom. Reported by News 4's Ida Segal.
