- Mr. Trump's wrongful conviction ended a five-year effort by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
- Afterwards, she called it a “huge victory” for “all Americans” who believe in the rule of law.
- President Trump's attacks on James ranged from insulting her sanity to her shoes.
Quite literally, from head to toe, Donald Trump and his lawyers attacked New York Attorney General Letitia James.
He doubted her sanity. One of his lawyers scoffed at her leg. To Trump, she is a racist, a lunatic, and, perplexingly, a “Letitia Peekaboo James.”
But on Friday, Mr. James' five-year pursuit of Mr. Trump and his company culminated in a $364 million punitive judgment by New York State Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron.
And she took a victory lap, calling the ruling a “huge victory” not just for her state but for “all Americans” who believe in the rule of law.
“Today we proved that no one is above the law,” she said in remarks after the verdict. “No matter how rich, powerful or politically connected you are, everyone must play by the same rules.
“And for years, Donald Trump engaged in deceptive business practices, and tremendous fraud,” she continued, repeating the judge's findings.
“Donald Trump falsely and intentionally inflated his net worth by billions of dollars in order to unjustly enrich himself and his family and defraud the system.
“Donald Trump may have written 'The Art of the Deal,'” he added, repeating the punchline of Trump's September 2022 announcement that he was suing over fraud. But he completed 'The Art of the Deal,''' he added.
Read Letitia James' statement here.
She predicted that $355 million of the cash penalty would have to be paid by Mr. Trump himself, with interest adding another $100 million to the total and increasing that amount for each day it was unpaid.
James didn't get everything he asked the judge for. Mr. Engoron did not order the revocation of the Trump Organization's state operating license, as he had requested.
Mr. James had also called for Mr. Trump to be permanently barred from operating any business in New York. Engoron kept the ban to three years. Similarly, while James had asked for five-year suspensions for Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, Engoron kept it to two years.
Ivanka Trump was excluded from James' original lawsuit. At Friday's sentencing, Engoron said his uneven memory during his fraud trial testimony was a “suspect.”
Trump's expected appeal will delay the state receiving the funds, but the former president still needs to set aside cash through a surety bond that will be available if the ruling is upheld.
After the verdict, President Trump complained on Truth Social that “corrupt judges conspired with unscrupulous Attorney General Letitia James to punish a beautiful, fluid corporate empire that started in New York and has flourished around the world.” Ta.
Mr. James was announced in March 2019, days after the then-president's rival, fixer-turned-fixer Michael Cohen, testified to Congress that Mr. Trump had wildly exaggerated his calculations of his net worth for years. It has launched an investigation into Mr. Trump and his Manhattan-based company.
She pursued him through a two-year investigation and subpoena battle, winning a contempt finding that forced Trump to produce documents and take a deposition.
Throughout, AG did the best he could.
Our credo is “No one is above the law.'' She has frequently criticized Trump and vowed to hold him accountable, so much so that two years ago her defense team used a spreadsheet to show her calling him “unfair” and “bringing him down.” Trump has been on record about 70 times, promising to do so or otherwise addressing Trump.
And in September 2023, Mr. James acquired Mr. Trump, Trump.org, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and two executives who have since resigned, Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg and Jeffrey Trump. Comptroller McConney was sued.
During the trial, which ran from October to December, James fraudulently listed Trump's assets in 10 years' worth of annual net worth reports that Trump used to obtain $168 million in loan interest savings. They accused the company of inflating the figures by $3.6 billion.
Trump objected to that. His rating was conservatively low..
Lawyers for the suit's co-defendants, the Trump Organization, his eldest sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump Weisselberg, and another longtime Trump.org executive, Jeffrey McConney, also denied wrongdoing.
“Ordinary Americans can't lie to their banks about how much money they have in order to get a mortgage,” James said in a statement Friday night.
“The scale and scope of Donald Trump's misconduct is staggering,” she said, echoing the verdict's language.
“And so is his ego. And his belief that the rules don't apply to him. Today, we're holding Donald Trump accountable,” she said.
“We are holding him accountable for his lies, his dishonesty, his lack of repentance and his disregard for the rules we are all supposed to follow,” she said.
“Because there can't be different rules for different people in this country, and former presidents are no exception.”
