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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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."


McConney says he corrected inflated value of Ivanka's apartment

The Trump Organization's longtime controller testified that he overvalued Ivanka Trump's apartment in her father's statement of financial condition before correcting the mistake after it was flagged.

New York Attorney General Letitia James alleges that a penthouse apartment rented by Ivanka Trump was valued in Donald Trump's financial statement at $45 million in 2014 and 2015, despite the apartment's rental agreement including an option to purchase the apartment for $14 million.

From 2016 onward, the value of the penthouse in Trump's statements dropped back down the actual buyout price of $14 million, "per rental agreement."

Asked about the change during his testimony today, McConney acknowledged the correction, claiming he did not know about the provision in the rental agreement.

McConney said that once outside accountant Donald Bender of Mazars USA flagged the issue, he promptly made the change in Trump's financial statement.

McConney concluded his testimony for the day and is set to return to the witness stand Tuesday morning.