Trump civil fraud case: Judge fines Trump $354M, says frauds 'shock the conscience'

Before the court's afternoon session got underway, Judge Engoron announced he was prohibiting attorneys from holding press conferences or addressing the media inside the courthouse.

The announcement came a day after Trump attorney Alina Habba held a brief press conference during yesterday's lunch break, telling reporters, "This is a scary precedent, legally, for any business in New York."

New York Attorney General Letitia James addressed reporters on the courthouse steps after court had ended for the day yesterday.

Engoron's order does not appear to apply to former President Trump, who is not an attorney. The former president has been addressing the media in the hallway during breaks.

Ladder Capital executive Jack Weisselberg, the son of ex-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, has begun his testimony.

The younger Weisselberg testified that he began his career at the investment bank UBS as an analyst, moved to the now-defunct hedge fund Dillon Read Capital Management, then returned to UBS.

"There were layoffs at UBS and across the entire industry," Weisselberg said about his eventual exit from UBS. He testified that he began working at Ladder Capital in 2008.

The New York attorney general alleges that the Trump Organization obtained favorable loan terms with Ladder Capital based on an inflated appraisal of Trump's 40 Wall Street property.

Defense attorney Clifford Robert continued to hammer at real estate appraiser Doug Larson during cross-examination.

Larson -- who met with attorneys from the New York attorney general's office on Monday in advance of his testimony -- was asked if he was shown either of the two emails that this morning prompted him to recall having phone calls with Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney, after testifying yesterday that he did not.

"During your prep session Monday, the attorney general didn't show you these two documents?" Robert said while waving printed copies of the two emails in the air, to which Larson replied no.

State attorney Mark Ladov, on redirect examination, read a transcript from an interview with Larson from three years ago, in which Larson was shown the emails and offered a response that was consistent with yesterday's testimony.

"This is beyond absurd," Trump attorney Chris Kise said, objecting to Ladov's approach.

Exiting the courtroom during a break, Trump seized on the Larson's testimony to support his claims that the case should be dismissed.

"The government just got caught in a big, fat lie," Trump said.

Trump, who has been sitting at the counsel table with his attorneys Chris Kise and Alina Habba, had a noticeable response when real estate appraiser Doug Larson denied having conversations with Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney about the value of Trump's 40 Wall Street property in 2013.

The former president made an inaudible comment, tapped on the table, and conferred with his lawyers.

That prompted state attorney Kevin Wallace to ask Judge Engoron to tell Trump to refrain from making comments.

"Can the defendant please stop commenting during the witness' testimony?" Wallace said. "I believe exhortations are audible on this side of the courtroom as well."

Engoron declined to specifically tell Trump to refrain from commenting, instead saying, "I will ask everyone to be quiet when the witness is testifying."