The former president was found to have defrauded lenders.
Former President Donald Trump has been fined $354.8 million plus approximately $100 million in interest in a civil fraud lawsuit that could alter the personal fortune and real estate empire that helped propel him to the White House. In the decision, Judge Arthur Engoron excoriated Trump, saying the president's credibility was "severely compromised," that the frauds "shock the conscience" and that Trump and his co-defendants showed a "complete lack of contrition and remorse" that he said "borders on pathological."
Engoron also hit Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump with $4 million fines and barred all three from helming New York companies for years. New York Attorney General Letitia James accused Trump and his adult sons of engaging in a decade-long scheme in which they used "numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation" to inflate Trump's net worth in order get more favorable loan terms. The former president has denied all wrongdoing and has said he will appeal.
Donald Trump and his adult sons were hit with millions in fines in the civil fraud trial and barred for years from being officers in New York companies. The judge said the frauds "shock the conscience."
Donald Trump: $354 million fine + approx. $100 million in interest
+ barred for 3 years from serving as officer of NY company
Donald Trump Jr.: $4 million fine
+ barred for 2 years from serving as officer of NY company
Eric Trump: $4 million fine
+ barred for 2 years from serving as officer of NY company
Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg: $1 million fine
+ barred for 3 years from serving as officer of NY company
+ barred for life from financial management role in NY company
Former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney:
+ barred for 3 years from serving as officer of NY company
+ barred for life from financial management role in NY company
Former President Trump did not return to the courtroom following an afternoon break, and his motorcade departed the courthouse shortly thereafter.
While leaving the courtroom, Trump was asked about a court employee who attempted to approach him during the trial today and was subsequently arrested.
"The attorney general should be arrested for what she's doing," Trump said.
A court employee is under arrest after she tried to approach former President Trump while he was seated in the courtroom.
As the trial was going on, the woman "disrupted the proceedings by standing up and walking towards the front of the courtroom and yelling out to Mr. Trump indicating she wanted to assist him," according to a spokesperson for the New York State Unified Court System.
The woman was stopped by court officers before she got near Trump or any of the attorneys. She was escorted out of the courthouse by court officers and has been charged with disrupting a court proceeding.
No one in the courtroom was ever in any danger, the spokesperson said.
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.
