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

Judge Engoron, in an exchange with defense attorneys regarding the state's expert witness, said that levying fines against Trump -- one of the central issues being decided at this trial -- is "clearly an available remedy" despite the defense's contention otherwise.

Engoron already ruled in a partial summary judgment that Trump had submitted "fraudulent valuations" for his assets, leaving the trial to determine additional actions and what penalty, if any, the defendants should receive.

Engoron's observation came during the defense's effort to preclude testimony from the attorney general's expert witness. In denying their effort, the judge also shot down the defense's argument that disgorgement -- fining Trump for illegal profits -- is off the table.

"For reasons this court has explained ad nauseam, that view is simply incorrect," Engoron said. "Disgorgement is a clearly available remedy."

Trump attorney Chris Kise countered that the state has failed to prove that banks would have done anything differently had they known Trump's statements were fraudulent. Kise specifically cited the testimony of Deutsche Bank executive Nicholas Haigh, who testified that loaning money to Trump was a "good credit decision."

"Several witnesses have testified that they would have acted differently had they known the statements of financial condition were fraudulent," Engoron responded.

"I think, to a certain extent, the defendants are whistling past the graveyard here," the judge added.

Day 20 of the trial is scheduled to begin with testimony from K. Don Cornwell, who worked at investment bank Morgan Stanley in 2014 when Donald Trump bid for the Buffalo Bills football team.

He is scheduled to be followed on the witness stand by former Trump Organization executive David Orowitz.

The state's expert witness, Michiel McCarty, is then scheduled to testify later today about the financial implications of Trump's inflated assets -- context that is expected to guide the judge's determination about the size of fine Trump faces, if any.

Members of the Trump family are scheduled to begin testifying tomorrow, starting with Donald Trump Jr.

Lawyers for the New York attorney general, in a late-day court filing, said they support the court-ordered pause on canceling Trump's business certificates -- but warn that a stay of Trump's civil fraud trial would cause a "cascade of delays."

The filing comes more than three weeks after an appeals court, at Trump's request, paused the enforcement of the cancelation of Trump's business certificates that Judge Arthur Engoron had ordered in his summary judgment.

In today's filing, New York Attorney General Letitia James wrote she was "willing to agree to stay enforcement … pending the end of trial and entry of final judgment."

On the other parts of Trump's appeal -- including the request to delay the trial and arguments against Engoron's summary judgment ruling that Trump committed fraud -- James vehemently argued in favor of letting the trial run its course.

"Abruptly halting trial would thus sow chaos and result in an inordinate waste of both public resources and the time and resources of witnesses," James wrote, alleging that Trump is playing courts against one another to create delays.

"Moreover, any delay here would threaten a cascade of delays not only in this case but also in other pending criminal and civil cases against defendant Donald J. Trump," the filing said.

Trump's legal team has until Nov. 9 to submit their reply.

Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg provided misleading information about Donald Trump's assets, according to Claudia Mouradian, an insurance underwriter who met with Weisselberg on multiple occasions.

During meetings with Mouradian in 2018 and 2020, Weisselberg claimed that Trump had strong cash assets and stable properties that had been appraised by third parties -- information that Mouradian said she used to determine that the Trump Organization was in "very good financial shape."

"It was a positive factor when he told me that. He was essentially saying the properties don't fluctuate in value during economic cycles," Mouradian testified about Trump's assets during a video deposition played in court today.

However, Weisselberg acknowledged in his own deposition that the Trump Organization did not use outside appraisers to value properties -- contradicting what he told Mouradian.

"I am understanding you correctly that you did not engage appraisers to perform valuations of properties for purposes of that statement of financial condition?" a state attorney asked Weisselberg in a taped deposition.

"Correct," Weisselberg replied, though he said he did not recall that he told Mouradian the opposite.

"It is not consistent with what he told me at the meeting," Mouradian said when shown Weisselberg's testimony.

Court was subsequently adjourned for the day.