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

The former president was found to have defrauded lenders.

Last Updated: February 16, 2024, 7:15 PM EST

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.

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Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Feb 16, 4:07 pm

Summary of penalties

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

Nov 02, 2023, 2:10 PM EDT

Eric Trump acknowledges email about financial statement

Eric Trump responded angrily when a state attorney questioned his previous statement that he was unaware that information he provided was being used in his father's statement of financial condition.

"We're a major organization. A massive real estate organization," Eric Trump said, raising his voice, before acknowledging he was aware of his father's financial statements, which are at the center of the case.

Eric Trump, center, appears at the fraud trial for his father, former President Donald Trump, at New York Supreme Court, Nov. 2, 2023.
Shannon Stapleton/Pool/AP

State attorney Andrew Amer pressed Eric Trump about a 2013 email in which then-Trump Organization controller Jeff McConney told Eric Trump, "I'm working on the notes to Mr. Trump's annual financial statement..."

"Is it correct that when you received this email in August of 2013, you understood that your father had an annual financial statement and you understood that Mr. McConney was asking you for information to assist with notes for that financial statement?" Amer asked.

"Yes," Eric Trump said.

Nov 02, 2023, 1:36 PM EDT

Judge is 'hurting my very good children,' Trump says

Former President Trump took to social media to criticize Judge Engoron after Donald Trump Jr. yielded the witness stand to his brother Eric.

"Engoron is a wacko who is having a great time endlessly sanctioning, fining, & pushing around 'TRUMP,' hurting my very good children, & working to damage & defame me," the former president wrote on Truth Social.

As he he left the courthouse following his testimony, Trump Jr. told reporters, "I think it went really well, if we were actually dealing with logic and reason."

He reiterated that he relied on the Trump Organization's accountants to put together the financial statements at issue, and that he was not responsible for their contents.

"Before even having a day in court, I'm apparantly guilty of fraud for relying on my accountants to do -- wait for it -- accounting," Trump Jr. said. "You pay experts millions of dollars to be experts, you sign off on what they give you, and you're liable?"

Nov 02, 2023, 12:53 PM EDT

'I did not work' on financial statements, Eric Trump says

"Sorry to be brash," Eric Trump began a 2012 email to a board member of a North Carolina golf club that the Trump Organization intended to purchase, according to materials entered into evidence.

The board member had come to New York to review financial documents to be assured the Trump organization had the "financial wherewithal to purchase, renovate and operate the club," state attorney Andrew Amer said while questioning Eric Trump.

Amer contended that meant Eric Trump knew "the company had personal financials available to share with third parties," despite the former president's son testifying that "I don't want to speculate" what was being shared.

"I understood we had financials as a company. I was not personally aware of the statement of financial condition," Eric Trump said. "I did not work on the statement of financial condition. I've been very clear about that."

Nov 02, 2023, 12:39 PM EDT

Eric Trump says he didn't know he was source for valuations

Eric Trump denied knowing that he was cited as a source for Donald Trump's valuation of his Seven Springs estate in New York.

"People ask me questions all the time, but I never worked on the statement of financial condition," Eric Trump said when asked about two phone conversations cited by Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney to determine the value of the estate.

Co-defendant Eric Trump attends the Trump Organization civil fraud trial, in New York State Supreme Court, Nov. 2, 2023.
Shannon Stapleton/Pool/Reuters

While Eric Trump said he had no reason to doubt that the conversations about the estate took place, he denied knowing they were used to value the property in Trump's financial statements.

"I don't believe I ever saw or worked on a statement of financial condition," Eric Trump said.

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