As expected, Trump's lawyers have filed an application for an immediate pause of the ongoing trial, pending their appeal of Judge Engoron's ruling granting partial summary judgment in the case last week.

Engoron, in last week's ruling, ordered the cancellation of Trump's business licenses in New York after finding that he had committed fraud in his business dealings.

In their application for a stay, Trump's lawyers argue that Engoron's order was "unprecedented," incorrectly decided, and unfairly punitive.

Warning that the consequences of Engoron's order would do "severe and irreparable harm" to not only defendant but also "innocent nonparties and employees who depend on the affected entities for their livelihoods," the lawyers asked for an immediate pause of the trial.

"It is respectfully submitted that an immediate stay of enforcement of Supreme Court's decision and order is necessary to prevent irreparable harm pending resolution of Appellants' application to correct a grave miscarriage of justice," the application says.

A week after an appeals court denied Trump's request to halt the ongoing trial, the former president is withdrawing a suit he filed against Judge Arthur Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Trump originally undertook the legal move to force the judge to either issue a ruling limiting the case against him or delay the trial.

The suit was discontinued without prejudice, according to a filing.

However, Trump's legal team has told the court that it plans to file a new request for a stay of the trial, pending appeal, sometime today.

Former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney, a defendant in the case, is scheduled to return to the witness stand this morning for a half-day session of court.

State attorneys are expected to continue to probe the Trump Organization's internal procedures that resulted in the inflated values on Trump's financial statements, including how the former president's own Trump Tower penthouse grew in listed value from $80 million in 2011 to $327 million in 2016.

Judge Arthur Engoron already ruled last week that Trump overvalued the apartment by over $200 million based on the "false and misleading" claim that the residence was 30,000 square feet, rather than its actual size of 10,996 square feet.

When McConney asked Kathy Kaye, a Trump International Realty executive, for assistance valuing the residence in 2013, Kaye cited the penthouse's ties to "celebrity" and its uniqueness as partial reasons to add $20 million to the apartment's listed value, according to an email that was entered into evidence.

"I don't see how one would list below 8K per sq foot at this point, which brings us to 240,000M ... 200,000M is a safe estimate," Kaye wrote in the email.

McConney also appeared to struggled to explain why he used asking prices, rather than the accepted practice of using sale prices, when valuing the penthouse.

The exchange prompted New York AG special counsel Andrew Amer to confront McConney with his testimony during a previous investigative interview, in which McConney said asking prices were a poor measure of value since "you can ask anything you want to."

Testifying about his responsibilities as the Trump Organization's longtime controller, co-defendant Jeffrey McConney was grilled on the stand by special counsel Andrew Amer of the New York attorney general's office.

Amer pressed McConney about alleged issues with Trump's financial documents.

Asked about why he listed assets from Vornado Trust -- which Trump did not control -- as being under Trump's control, McConney suggested it came down to accounting convenience.

"We couldn't keep adding columns for every bank or brokerage account," McConney said, later adding that the money was held in a Capital One account like the other assets, even if Trump could not access that account.

McConney testified that the individuals who accessed the spreadsheet would understand who controlled that money.

"People can make assumptions in any way they want to. The users looking at this spreadsheet would know it's not one bank account," McConney said.

McConney appeared to struggle to answer questions about the value of Trump's triplex apartment in Trump Tower, which, according to the Trump Organization, ballooned in value from $80 million in 2011 to $327 million in 2016.

The controller testified that he relied on data from the StreetEasy website, adopted cost-per-square-foot estimates from newer properties, and took other Trump Organization executives' claims about the apartment at face value.

McConney is scheduled to continue his testimony tomorrow as the day's only witness.

Former President Donald Trump must pay $354 million for fraudulent business practices, Judge Arthur Engoron has ruled.

Trump's sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have been fined $4 million apiece, and former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg has been fined $1 million.

The decision bars Trump barred from serving as an officer of a New York company for three years, and bars his sons for two years apiece.

Regarding the dissolution of Trump's companies, the decision says, "This Court hereby modifies its September 26, 2023, Decision and Order solely to the extent of removing the language ordering the LLCs cancellation en masse. The restructuring and potential dissolution of any LLCs shall be subject to individual review by the Court appointed Independent Director of Compliance in consultation with Judge Jones."

In his decision, Engoron wrote that "Defendants' refusal to admit error -- indeed, to continue it, according to the Independent Monitor -- constrains this Court to conclude that they will engage in it going forward unless judicially restrained."

"Overall, Donald Trump rarely responded to the questions asked, and he frequently interjected long, irrelevant speeches on issues far beyond the scope of the trial," the judge wrote. "His refusal to answer the questions directly, or in some cases, at all, severely compromised his credibility."

"The accountants created these 'compilations' based on data submitted by the Trump entities," the decision said. "In order to borrow more and at lower rates, defendants submitted blatantly false financial data to the accountants, resulting in fraudulent financial statements. When confronted at trial with the statements, defendants' fact and expert witnesses simply denied reality, and defendants failed to accept responsibility or to impose internal controls to prevent future recurrences."

Of Donald Trump Jr., Engoron wrote, "Despite disclaiming responsibility for or knowledge of the Statements of Financial Conditions' contents, Trump, Jr. still insisted that the Statements of Financial Condition were 'materially accurate.'"

Engoron's decision follows an 11-week civil trial in New York, where Trump and three of his adult children testified.

New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump, his two adult sons, and Trump Organization executives in September 2022 for issuing fraudulent financial statements -- including over 200 false and misleading asset values between 2011 and 2021 -- to get better loan terms and business deals.