(NewsNation) — Former President Donald Trump responded Friday after a New York State Supreme Court judge found him liable for fraud that inflated the value of his personal assets and business holdings. .
“We're going to appeal,” Trump said from the steps of Mar-a-Lago, calling the judge “a very dishonest man.”
“There was no fraud,” he said. “The banks were all 100 percent funded. They love Trump. They testified and testified beautifully that Mr. Trump is a great, great customer, one of our best customers. He did. And the judge knows it. He's just a corrupt person.”
A New York State Supreme Court judge on Friday ordered the Republican presidential candidate to pay $354.9 million and ban him from doing business in New York for three years.
President Trump called the ruling a “witch hunt,” saying, “This is Russia. This is China. This is the same game. It's all coming out of the Justice Department. It's all coming out of Biden. This is a witch hunt against his political opponents, unlike anything our country has ever seen.”
Judge Arthur Engoron issued the 92-page judgment after two and a half months of testimony from 40 witnesses, including the former president. The decision was made in court because juries are not allowed in civil cases of this type.
The judge ruled that the ruling does not mean Trump's business will be dissolved, but that it will require independent oversight and oversight going forward.
Read the full judgment below.
New York Attorney General Letitia James was seeking $370 million and a ban on Mr. Trump and other defendants from doing business in the state.
According to the ruling, Engoron ordered Mr. Trump to pay approximately $355 million and ordered Mr. Trump's sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. to each pay $4.01 million. Both sons were banned from working as business executives in the state for two years.
Trump's lawyer, Alina Haba, echoed this, calling Friday's ruling “terrible” and “relentless persecution” and said she planned to appeal.
“This sentence is a clear injustice, plain and simple,” Hubba said. “This is the culmination of a years-long politically motivated witch hunt aimed at 'bringing down Donald Trump' before Letitia James even set foot in the Attorney General's office.
“Countless hours of testimony proved there was no wrongdoing, no crime, and no victims.”
In a statement released Friday afternoon, President Trump called the ruling “complete and utter bogus.”
The former president's statement read in part: “I helped New York City at its worst moment, and now, as New York City is overrun with violent Biden immigration crimes, radicals are doing everything they can to get rid of me.” I am doing my best,” it says.
Mr. James has claimed since the civil trial began that Mr. Trump overstated his personal wealth by up to $3.6 billion.
In a statement released Friday, James said Trump “committed massive fraud to unjustly enrich himself, his family, and his organization.”
Furthermore, she added: “He may have written “The Art of the Deal,'' but he has perfected the art of theft. Now he is finally facing the consequences of his illegal actions. It's a big win for everyone who believes that everyone should play by the same rules.No matter how great, how rich, how powerful, no one is above the law.Donald -Even Trump.”
The state said Trump and others, including his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, inflated their assets to receive more favorable interest terms on business loans and lower insurance premiums. claims to have done so. Prosecutors argued in their lawsuit that Trump saved him at least $168 million in interest alone.
In his ruling, Engoron determined that Trump and his business associates submitted “patently false” financial data to accountants in order to obtain more loans at lower interest rates. As a result, fraudulent financial statements occurred, the ruling said.
When confronted with these statements at trial, the judge stated that the defendants' expert witnesses “only denied the facts,” and that the defendants could neither admit liability nor implement internal controls to prevent future recurrence. He also wrote that he refused to impose any charges.
The judge added that the defendants' total lack of remorse and remorse was “borderline pathological”. He also added that this was not the defendants' “first rodeo.”
“They are only accused of inflating asset values in order to make more money. Documents repeatedly prove this,” the judgment said. “This is a petty crime, not a capital crime. The defendants did not commit murder or arson. They did not rob a bank at gunpoint.
“Donald Trump is no Bernard Madoff. But the defendants are unable to admit the error of their ways. Instead, they adopt a 'see no evil, hear no evil, tell no evil' attitude in which the evidence is a lie. will take.”
Trump's lawyer said the judge's ruling “is not just about Donald Trump.” Rather, “if this decision stands, it will send a signal to all Americans that New York is no longer open for business.”
James' lawsuit alleges that Trump overvalued many of his personal assets, including his Trump Tower penthouse, Florida's Mar-a-Lago club, golf courses, hotels and Wall Street office buildings. He claimed that there was.
Engoron has already ruled that President Trump's financial statements were fraudulent. A judge ordered some of the former president's business holdings to be removed from his control or dissolved.
The case is currently on appeal, and the judge's order is blocked from moving forward.
President Trump issued a defiant statement last month calling the civil trial a “fraud” against him. He also blamed President Joe Biden for many of the legal hurdles he faces. On Friday, President Trump said he would not “allow injustice to stand” and would fight Biden's “persecution with weapons every step of the way.”
Friday's ruling against Trump came a week after another judge in New York ruled that Trump will stand trial on March 25. In this case, prosecutors allege that Trump falsified company records to keep him quiet from paying hush money to people who had potentially damaging and embarrassing information. Trump's extramarital affair.
Trump maintains he is innocent and views the hush-money scandal as a witch hunt to disrupt his campaign for a second stint in the White House.
