Donald Trump suffered another legal blow in a civil dispute that threatens his real estate empire on Friday when a New York judge determined that he must pay $354.9 million in penalties for falsely inflating his net worth to mislead lenders.
Judge Arthur Engoron also barred Trump, who is seeking reelection to the Presidency this year, from holding any position as an officer or director of any New York corporation for a period of three years, in a severely worded ruling that was released following a contentious three-month trial in Manhattan. Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba has sworn to appeal on behalf of Trump.
Engoron said on Friday that he was appointing an independent monitor and compliance director to oversee Trump’s businesses, thus he was rescinding his previous ruling from September that ordered the “dissolution” of entities that control cornerstones of Trump’s real estate empire.
According to Engoron’s verdict in the case, Trump and the other defendants “are incapable of admitting the error of their ways.”
Engoron wrote, “Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological. Instead, they adopt a ‘See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ posture that the evidence belies.”
Trump and his family businesses were charged in a lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James with fabricating their net worth for a decade in order to deceive bankers into offering better loan terms, up to a $3.6 billion annual increase. Calling the lawsuit a political vendetta by Democratic candidate James, Trump has simultaneously faced criminal accusations in four other cases.
On his social media accounts, Trump referred to James as “corrupt,” Engoron as “crooked,” and the investigation into him as “ELECTION INTERFERENCE” and a “WITCH HUNT.”
“This ‘decision’ is a Complete and Total SHAM,” Trump stated in his letter. “We cannot let injustice stand.”
Engoron, who ruled in the case without a jury, banned Trump and the businesses he owned from requesting loans from any financial institution chartered in New York for three years, which will likely limit Trump’s access to credit from many prominent US banks.
The judge ruled that the severe penalties were partly due to Trump and his firms’ prior legal run-ins. 2022 saw the conviction of The Trump Organization for felony tax fraud. Trump previously settled wrongdoing claims made by the state of New York through two other organizations.
The case included Don Jr. and Eric, Trump’s adult sons, as defendants, fining both $4 million each. Attorney Clifford Robert for the plaintiffs described the ruling as a “gross injustice” and expressed his expectation that it will be reversed on appeal.
Allen Weisselberg, the former CFO of the Trump Organization, was made to pay $1 million and was permanently forbidden from handling the finances of any New York corporation after entering a guilty plea to tax fraud in a separate criminal case.
With interest included, James indicated that the fines all defendants had to pay exceeded $450 million.
In a statement, James said, “Donald Trump is finally facing accountability for his lying, cheating and staggering fraud. Because no matter how big, rich or powerful you think you are, no one is above the law.”
