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 approximately $454 million as part of his verdict in the former president's civil white collar fraud trial.
According to a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, the staggering figure includes approximately $355 million in disgorgements, a deadline for the return of ill-gotten gains, and more than $98 million in provisional interest that accrues daily until paid out.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron also banned Trump from running a business in New York for three years.
The former president 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.
“We employ tens of thousands of people in New York and we pay taxes like few other people have ever paid in New York,” Trump said after the verdict at his Mar-a-Lago resort. “They don’t care. It is a state that is going bankrupt because everyone is leaving.”
His lawyer, Chris Kise, said in a statement earlier Friday that Trump “will of course appeal.”
The former president “remains confident that the Appellate Division will ultimately correct the countless and catastrophic errors committed by a court unbound by law or reality,” Kise said.
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.
New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a press conference following a ruling against former US President Donald Trump that ordered him to pay $354.9 million and ban him from doing business in New York state in the US for three years -Manhattan Borough of New York City, February 16, 2024.Â
David Dee Delgado | Reuters
“There simply cannot be different rules for different people,” James said in a statement celebrating the ruling Friday afternoon.
“Americans can't lie to a bank every day to get a mortgage to buy a home, and if they did, our government would blame them,” James said.
James had asked Engoron to ban Trump from the New York real estate industry for life and forfeit $370 million.
Instead, Engoron fined Trump $354,868,768 for skimming. He also ordered Trump to pay preliminary interest totaling $98.6 million, accruing at an annual rate of 9%.
The total, including disgorgement and interest, for all defendants in this case: just under $464 million.
Of that sum, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., who took over the Trump Organization after their father became president in 2017, were each ordered to pay more than $4 million.
Eric and Donald Jr. also face a two-year ban from serving as officers or directors of any New York company or entity.
Donald Trump Jr. and his brother Eric Trump arrive at the New York Supreme Court for the civil fraud trial of former President Donald Trump on November 2, 2023 in New York City
David Dee Delgado | Getty Images
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 unless they are restrained by the courts, they will engage in it in the future.”
“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.
Judge Arthur Engoron speaks during the trial of former U.S. President Donald Trump, his adult sons, the Trump Organization and others in a civil fraud case brought by Attorney General Letitia James at a Manhattan courthouse in New York City, U.S., October 3 , 2023.Â
Shannon Stapleton | Reuters
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 senior law clerk, Allison Greenfield, who was sitting in court.
Trump violated the gag order twice in four weeks and collected fines totaling $15,000.
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