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.


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


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Asked about 2011 emails, Ivanka Trump says they're hard to recall

Asked about business negotiations from 2011, Ivanka Trump has been struggling to recall the details of her interactions from 12 years ago.

"I don't recall, sitting here today, seeing these terms from 2011," she responded after being shown a 2011 email to an Inbursa Bank representative. "I don't remember having these conversations other than on a very high level."

She has been punctuating her testimony with subtle indicators of how far removed she is from deals and documents discussed in court.

"I believe it was the ninth month of pregnancy of my oldest daughter," she remarked after she was shown another document from 2011.

When asked about other documents, she added it was hard to remember "after all these years removed" or that she can only "recall you reminding me of that discussion."


'My father will send you' his statement, Ivanka Trump said in email

Poised and patient on the witness stand, Ivanka Trump described how her husband, Jared Kushner, introduced her to Deutsche Bank's private wealth management division, for which she later became the Trump Organization's liaison and worked to arrange financing for the firm's purchase of the Doral golf club in Miami.

She was shown an email in which she told a different potential lender that "my father will send you his most recent financial statement," a potential indication of the document's importance despite former President Trump's prior testimony that the banks didn't care about his financial statements when deciding whether to loan him money.

"They were just something that you would have," Trump said during his testimony Monday about the statements at the center of the case.


Ivanka Trump avoids courtroom photos

Unlike her father and brothers, who, when they testified, were photographed by news photographers at the defense counsel table alongside their lawyers before taking the stand, Ivanka Trump appears to have avoided her courtroom photo opportunity.

While her father and brothers are defendants in the case, Ivanka Trump is a third-party witness. No photographers were allowed in the courtroom this morning.


Ivanka Trump takes the stand

"The people call Ivanka Trump," state attorney Louis Solomon said.

"Who's she?" Judge Arthur Engoron responded jokingly.

After a few awkward minutes of waiting, Ivanka Trump entered the courtroom, walked toward the judge, and took her place in the courtroom's witness box. She did not address or make eye contact with Letitia James as she passed the New York attorney general.

"Do you solemnly swear or affirm that any testimony you give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?" a court officer asked her.

"I do," she responded with her right hand raised.


Deutsche Bank supported Trump's loans, presidency, say reports

Deutsche Bank's internal credit reports related to Donald Trump's loans offered a positive -- at times glowing -- assessment of his assets, evidence presented in court showed.

"The general conclusion is that the hotel will become the most elite hospitality establishment in Washington, DC, once stabilized," a report said about the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., for which Deutsche Bank financed over $100 in debt.

That same report suggested that the "highest levels" of Deutsche Bank's management supported the bank's relationship with Trump as he began to campaign for president, defense attorney Jesus Suarez told the court.

"Relationship has been reviewed and supported from a Management Board perspective in connection with the Guarantor's candidacy for president of the United States," Deutsche Bank's 2016 credit report said.

Deutsche Bank executive Nicholas Haigh testified that the bank's "own analysis" supported approving Trump's loans, despite that analysis often suggesting that Trump's reported asset valuations were off by hundreds of millions of dollars.