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
State to question defense expert on potential fine
State attorney Kevin Wallace is expected to complete his cross-examination of the defense's expert witness Robert Unell, who yesterday provided the most direct challenge to the state's analysis that found that Donald Trump's misstatements cost his lenders $168 million in lost interest.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is expected to use that lost interest analysis to justify part of the fine she wants to levy against Trump -- also known as a disgorgement -- for his allegedly ill-gotten gains.
Unell testified yesterday that he found the lost-interest analysis conducted by the state's expert Michiel McCarty was inaccurate based on real-world market conditions, including the interest rates used by commercial real estate lenders who are "living and breathing these deals daily."
"I have not seen anything to indicate that was an accurate interest rate," Unell said about the interest rates in the state's analysis.
Judge Arthur Engoron twice interjected during Unell's testimony to suggest that Trump still cost his lenders money, referring back to his partial summary judgment in which he said, "The less collateral for a loan, the riskier it is, and a first principal of loan accounting is that as risk rises, so do interest rates."
Trump attorney calls NY AG's case 'fraud with no victims'
Following the adjournment of court for the day, Trump attorney Chris Kise criticized the attorney general's case on the basis of testimony from the Deutsche Bank executives who said they were eager to do business with Trump regardless of the contents of his financial statements.
Echoing past comments, Kise described the case as a "fraud with no victims" in comments to ABC News.
Kise also slammed today's appellate court ruling reinstating Judge Engoron's limited gag orders as a "total breakdown of the rule of law."
"Now you have the front-running presidential candidate who can't even comment about why he thinks he's not getting a fair trial," Kise said about the impact of the ruling.
"I'm not sure how much more absurd it can get for President Trump," he said.
Expert disputes allegation that Trump cost lenders $168M
Robert Unell, an expert in commercial real estate, disputed the analysis conducted by the state's expert, Michiel McCarty, who testified that Trump's alleged deceptions cost his lenders $168 million in lost interest.
"It is really, in my opinion, a very narrow-minded support," Unell, testifying for the defense, said about the assumptions McCarty made regarding the interest rate of the loans.
Unell said that Trump's lenders made money, faced less risk in their investments over time, and sought additional business from the former president and his family. He also criticized the allegation that Trump risked defaulting on any of his loans by offering himself as a personal guarantor of the loans.
"It means the bank got what they wanted ... they had a warm body who was going to stand behind the loan and provide credit support," Unell said about Trump's personal support of the loans.
Judge Engoron interjected at multiple points to question Unell about his findings, at one point noting that the loans would have been pricier for Trump if lenders faced more risk stemming from Trump inflating his assets.
"The more value in collateral, the less risk, the lower the interest rate," Engoron said.
NY court official says judge's wife hasn't posted about Trump
Over the last week, Donald Trump has made multiple posts on social media about a social media account he alleges belongs to Judge Arthur Engoron's wife, accusing her of sharing multiple posts critical of the former president, including doctored images depicting Trump in prison.
"Judge Engoron's Trump Hating wife," Trump called her Wednesday on Truth Social.
A court official on Thursday denied that any of the posts referenced by Trump were made by Engoron's wife.
"Justice Engoron's wife has sent no social media posts regarding the former president. They are not hers," court spokesperson Al Baker wrote in a statement.
Judge finds Trump's testimony was 'hollow and untrue'
The sworn testimony of former President Trump in court yesterday was "hollow and untrue," according to a written order issued today by Judge Engoron.
The order, which memorializes yesterday's ruling that Trump violated the case's limited gag order, offers a stronger repudiation of Trump's sworn testimony than the judge articulated yesterday, when he called Trump's testimony "not credible."
"I then conducted a brief hearing, during which Donald Trump testified, under oath that he was referring to Michael Cohen. However, as the trier of fact, I find this testimony rings hollow and untrue," Engoron wrote in his order.
Like his in-court statements yesterday, Engoron remarked that Trump's hallway statement about "a person who's very partisan sitting alongside him, perhaps even more partisan than he is" was inconsistent with how Trump frequently refers to Cohen. Going as far as to cite the Oxford English Dictionary, Engoron wrote that "alongside" is more likely to refer to his clerk than the witness, who sits below the judge.
"Using imprecise language as an excuse to create plausible ambiguity about whether defendant violated this Court's unequivocal gag order is not a defense; the subject of Donald Trump's public statement to the press was unmistakably clear," Engoron wrote.
Trump's lawyers said they plan to appeal the order.