Former US President Donald Trump leaves the courtroom on the day of a trial on charges of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star before the 2016 election in the New York State Supreme Court in New York City, USA, 15. February 2024.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters
A New York judge on Friday ordered Donald Trump to pay a total fine of more than $350 million as part of his verdict in the former president’s civil white collar fraud trial.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron also banned Trump from running a business in New York for three years.
He also faces a three-year ban from applying for loans from government-registered financial institutions.
“New York is serious about combating business fraud,” Engoron wrote in the 92-page ruling.
The judge announced the final decision of the trial, which took place without a jury.
“President Trump will of course appeal and remains confident that the Appellate Division will ultimately correct the countless and catastrophic errors made by a court unbound by the law or reality,” Trump attorney Chris Kise said in a statement the judgment.
The appeal process could take several years to resolve.
The explosive trial arose from New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit accusing Trump, his two adult sons, his company and top executives of fraudulently inflating Trump’s assets to inflate his reported net worth and various financial perks to obtain.
James had asked Engoron to ban Trump from the New York real estate industry for life and pay $370 million in disgorgement, a term for the return of ill-gotten gains.
Instead, Engoron fined Trump a total of $354,868,768.
The judge also ordered Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., who took over the Trump Organization after their father became president in 2017, to pay fines of more than $4 million each.
Eric and Donald Jr. also face a two-year ban from serving as officers or directors of any New York company or entity.
Co-defendants Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer, and the company’s auditor, Jeffrey McConney, are permanently barred from controlling the finances of a New York company, Engoron ruled.
However, the judge has reversed his own earlier order to cancel the defendants’ business certificates, meaning he will no longer pursue what some legal experts have called a “corporate death penalty” for the Trump Organization.
The decision is just the latest court-imposed punishment against Trump, who is running for president and is facing numerous criminal and civil cases. Last month, in a separate civil trial in New York federal court, a jury ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll in response to her claim that he raped her in the mid-1990s .
Trump is the clear frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination and is likely setting up a rematch with President Joe Biden, who defeated him in 2020.
Lawyers for Trump and the other defendants were quick to criticize Friday’s ruling, accusing the judge and prosecutor of political bias and warning that the outcome would lead to companies moving out of New York.
“Countless hours of testimony have proven there was no wrongdoing, no crime and no victim,” Trump lawyer Alina Habba said in a statement.
But Engoron wrote in his ruling that the law used in this case does not require a victim to lose money.
“It is undisputed that the defendants made all required payments on time; the next group of lenders to receive fake statements may not be so lucky,” he wrote.
“The defendants blatantly submitted false financial information” as they sought to borrow more money at cheaper loan rates, “resulting in fraudulent financial reports,” Engoron wrote.
He also pointed to the Trump team’s legal defense, saying it proves that the company and its executives will continue to operate as they always have unless he forces them to change.
“When confronted with the defendants’ statements in court, the experts and experts simply denied reality,” the judge wrote.
Their “refusal to admit a mistake” led the judge to conclude “that they will continue to do so unless they are stopped by the courts.”
“In fact, Donald Trump has testified that even today he does not believe that the Trump Organization needed to make any changes because of the facts that emerged during this trial,” Engoron wrote.
“Your complete lack of remorse and remorse borders on pathology.”
Read more about this Trump fraud trial
Trump has frequently described his many legal battles as “witch hunts” and claimed they were part of a conspiracy backed by the Biden administration to further his political ambitions.
He loudly denied any wrongdoing in the New York fraud case and maintained his complete innocence on social media, in the courthouse and even on the witness stand.
Trump claimed to be worth far more than what was shown in his financial reports, while claiming that a disclaimer in the filing protected him from liability for any inaccuracies.
But Trump and the other defendants were already held liable for fraud by Engoron before the trial began.
In a bombshell pretrial ruling, Engoron issued summary judgment on James’s main plea – that the defendants committed fraud in violation of New York law.
Engoron found that Trump’s financial reports between 2014 and 2021 overstated his wealth by between $812 million and $2.2 billion.
The ruling struck down Trump’s defense claims and accused him and his co-defendants of trying to convince the court not to “believe his own eyes.”
The trial was conducted to determine the amount of penalties to be paid and to resolve other allegations of misconduct from James’ lawsuit.
The trial also served as an opportunity for Trump to express his displeasure with his perceived political opponents, including those sitting just feet away from him in court.
On the witness stand, Trump railed against Engoron and James while defending the values laid out in his financial reports. Trump also attacked another key witness, his former fixer and personal lawyer Michael Cohen, who testified that Trump directed him to falsely manipulate his assets.
Trump’s disappointment had consequences. On the second day of the trial, Engoron issued a terse gag order after Trump repeatedly attacked the judge’s chief clerk, Allison Greenfield, who was sitting in court.
Trump violated the gag order twice in four weeks and collected fines totaling $15,000.
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.
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2024-02-16 21:32:11
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