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
Cohen expected to testify after Mazars attorney
Donald Trump's former lawyer and self-described "fixer" is scheduled as the second witness to testify today at the trial.
Bill Kelly, a lawyer at Trump's former accounting firm, Mazars USA, is set to begin his testimony this morning.
Mazars issued Trump's statements of financial condition before severing its business relationship with the Trump Organization last year and withdrawing the statements issued between 2011 and 2020.
"We have come to this conclusion based, in part, upon the filings made by the New York Attorney General on January 18, 2022, our own investigation, and information received from internal and external sources," Kelly wrote in a 2022 letter to the Trump Organization.
Trump's lawyers appeal sanctions imposed before trial
Trump defense lawyers Chris Kise, Clifford Robert, and Michael Farina have appealed Judge Arthur Engoron's decision to sanction and fine them for making frivolous arguments during pretrial arguments.
On the eve of trial, Engoron sanctioned the attorneys for their "continued reliance on bogus arguments," and ordered each to pay a $7,500 fine.
"Sanctions are the only way to impress upon defendants' attorneys the consequences of engaging in repetitive, frivolous motion practice after this Court," Engoron wrote in his decision at the time.
In their filing, the lawyers have asked an appeals court to determine if Engoron "committed errors of law and/or fact, abused its discretion, and/or acted in excess of its jurisdiction."
Trial delayed until Tuesday due to COVID-19 exposures
Former President Trump's civil fraud trial is adjourned until Tuesday due to COVID-19 exposures, the New York attorney general's office has announced.
Officials did not say who had been exposed or when.
Trump attended the trial on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week and said on Wednesday that he could return to court for the testimony of his former attorney Michael Cohen, which could begin tomorrow.
The trial is scheduled to continue tomorrow morning with testimony from a lawyer at Trump's former accounting firm, Mazars USA, followed by Cohen.
Week Three of the trial concluded on Friday with Judge Engoron fining Trump $5,000 for violating a gag order the judge had issued prohibiting social media posts and statements about the judge's staff.
While Engoron found that Trump's violation was "inadvertent," he threatened additional fines or possibly even jail time if Trump violated the order again.
Judge fines Trump $5,000 for violating partial gag order
Judge Engoron has fined Donald Trump $5,000 for what the judge called Trump's "inadvertent" violation of his limited gag order that occurred when the former president's false Truth Social post about Engoron's clerk was not removed from Trump's campaign website.
"Donald Trump has received ample warning from this Court as to the possible repercussions of violating the gag order," Engoron wrote in a ruling after court had ended for the day. "He specifically acknowledged that he understood and would abide by it. Accordingly, issuing yet another warning is no longer appropriate; this Court is way beyond the 'warning' stage."
The judge said he decided to impose a nominal $5,000 fine "given defendant's position that the violation was inadvertent."
However, the judge wrote, "Make no mistake: future violations, whether intentional or unintentional, will subject the violator to far more severe sanctions, which may include, but are not limited to, steeper financial penalties, holding Donald Trump in contempt of court, and possibly imprisoning him pursuant to New York Judiciary Law 753."
Expert testimony leads off last full week of defense's case
Donald Trump's lawyers are scheduled to call three expert witnesses to begin the last full week of their case.
Defense lawyers first plan to call real estate valuation authority Frederick Chin, whose expert report, filed with the court, faults the New York attorney general for taking a "narrow and limited view" of the value of Trump's assets in her complaint against the former president.
Like other defense experts, Chin argues in his report that Trump fairly valued his assets and properly disclosed his valuation approach to his lenders.
After Chin testifies, Trump's lawyers plan to call two experts to testify about Trump's valuation of his Mar-a-Lago property, which has been the subject of bitter debate since the start of the trial. Judge Arthur Engoron, in his pretrial partial summary judgment, already decided that Trump overvalued the property by at least 2,300%, and the defense experts -- Lawrence Moens and John Shubin -- are expected to challenge the judge's findings.
Defense attorneys intend to complete their questioning of the three expert witnesses by Wednesday, when Eric Trump is expected to return to the witness stand.