Trump civil fraud case: Judge fines Trump $354 million, says frauds 'shock the conscience'
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.
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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
'I know the legal definition of fraud,' judge says
"One thing I know a lot about is the legal definition of fraud," Justice Arthur Engeron said as he gaveled court into session prior to the start of opening statements.
Engoron opened the proceedings after allowing cameras in to document the scene in the courtroom: Trump, arms folded, flanked by his legal team; Engeron on the bench; and throngs of reporters and spectators in the gallery.
"I've promised to do my best despite my lame attempts at humor," Engeron said in a brief opening statement. "I take my job very seriously."
The trial is expected to last through Dec. 22, Engeron said, and suggested he would attempt to keep a low profile after today.
"For the next three months, I hope the only words I will mutter are 'Sustained,' 'Overruled,' and 'Let's take a 10-minute break,'" he said.
Opening statements underway
Opening statements are underway in former President Trump's $250 million fraud trial.
Trump is seated between his attorneys Clifford Robert, Alina Habba and Christopher Kise.
Trump and his co-defendants face a bench trial, meaning that the sole arbiter of the case is Judge Arthur Engoron instead of a jury.
Trump seated in courtroom
Former President Trump has taken a seat in the courtroom for the start of the trial.
"The crime is against me," he told reporters outside the courtroom before he made his way inside.
He denounced the case in now-familiar terms, criticizing state Attorney General Letitia James as she sat inside the courtroom.
Trump also accused Judge Arthur Engoron of failing to account for the full value of his real estate portfolio, asserting his Mar-a-Lago estate is worth "50 to 100 times more" than the judge's decision for partial summary judgment said last week.
"We have other properties, the same thing. So he devalued everything," Trump said. "We have among the greatest properties in the world. and I have to go through this for political reasons."
Engoron decided Trump's statements of financial condition were fraudulent, but Trump said, "We have a clause in the contract that says, essentially, buyer beware."
Trump calls trial 'political witch hunt'
Former President Trump, speaking to reporters on his arrival at the lower Manhattan courthouse, said the trial is a witch hunt resulting from his standing in the presidential polls.
"This is a continuation of the greatest political witch hunt of all time," he told reporters outside the courtroom.
Trump said he is innocent of the accusations and that his portfolio has a much higher value than what the attorney general alleges.
Cohen says he was tasked to 'reverse engineer' asset values
Michael Cohen, under questioning from state attorneys, testified it was his job to help Trump look as rich as he wanted to.
"I was tasked by Mr. Trump to increase the total assets based upon a number that he arbitrarily elected, and my responsibility -- along with Allen Weisselberg -- predominantly was to reverse engineer the various different asset classes, increase those assets in order to achieve the number that Mr. Trump had tasked us with," Cohen said, referring to former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg.
Cohen joined the Trump Organization in 2007 as executive vice president and special counsel to Trump, putting him "directly under Mr. Trump" in the corporate hierarchy, Cohen said.
"I reported and only handled work for Mr. Trump and so I was his special counsel. Whatever issues he had, whatever created ire for him, he would bring it to me to resolve," Cohen said.
"So the only person who asked you to perform work was Donald J. Trump?" state attorney Colleen Faherty asked.
"Correct," Cohen responded.
Cohen affirmed his involvement in preparing Trump's statements of financial condition and told the judge those documents were "shared with third parties," including insurance brokers.