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
Judge mulls holding Trump in contempt over gag order
Judge Engoron said he is considering holding former President Trump in contempt of court -- and even raised the possibility of imprisonment -- following what Engoron described as a "blatant violation of the gag order" imposed earlier this month during the trial.
Engoron imposed a limited gag order on Oct. 3 after Trump made a false social media post about the judge's clerk. While Trump immediately removed the post from Truth Social, Trump's campaign website appeared to still include the social media post until last night.
"Despite this clear order, last night I learned that the subject offending post was never removed from [the Trump's campaign website], in fact had been on that website for the past 17 days," Engoron said.
The judge said he was considering holding Trump in contempt of court, fining him, or "possibly imprisoning him."
"Incendiary untruths can, and in some cases already had, lead to serious physical harm," Engoron said.
Trump's lawyer Chris Kise told Engoron that the website including the post was an "inadvertent" mistake and that Trump has tried to comply with the order since it was imposed.
"The Truth Social post was taken down when President Trump represented it to the court," Kise said.
Addressing why the post remained on Trump's campaign website, Kise blamed Trump's "very large [campaign] operation."
"This unfortunately is a part of the process that is built into the campaign structure," Kise said.
Engoron, who did not immediately resolve the issue, said, "I will take this under advisement, but I want to make clear that Donald Trump is still responsible for the large machine, even if it is a large machine."
No evidence Trump asked ex-CFO to pump net worth, defense says
Defense lawyer Clifford Robert filed a letter late Thursday asking Judge Engoron to strike testimony from Trump Organization executive Patrick Birney about an alleged "scheme" to pump former President Trump's net worth.
During his testimony Monday, Birney testified that former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg told him that "Mr. Trump wanted his net worth on the statement of financial condition to go up." The New York attorney general has argued this statement supports the existence of an "illicit agreement or scheme" within the Trump Organization to inflate Trump's net worth.
Describing the statement as "merely a recitation of what Mr. Weisselberg allegedly heard from President Trump without adoption or indorsement," Robert argued that the statement cannot be assumed to be true based on Birney's testimony.
"In any event, there is nothing in the record establishing President Trump actually made the statement to Mr. Weisselberg," Robert added in a footnote to his letter.
Ivanka Trump files motion to keep from testifying
Day 14 of the proceedings gets underway following a motion filed late Thursday by Ivanka Trump that seeks to quash three subpoenas that would compel her to testify in the trial.
Donald Trump's eldest daughter, who was no longer a part of the Trump Organization by 2016, was dismissed from the civil suit by an appeals court in June.
But the New York attorney general still plans to call her as a witness in the state's case. In early September, the AG sent subpoenas to three corporate entities affiliated with Ivanka Trump to force her to testify in person.
"The NYAG, which never deposed Ms. Trump, is effectively trying to force her back into this case from which she was dismissed by a unanimous decision of the Appellate Division, First Department," Ivanka Trump's lawyer, Bennet Moskowitz, wrote in Thursday's filing.
Moskowitz argued that the subpoenas should be thrown out since they were not properly served and because the AG lacks jurisdiction to force Ivanka Trump, who is no longer a New York resident, to testify.
"The NYAG knows this, which is why it has subpoenaed three corporate entities as an end-run around its failure to pursue Ms. Trump's deposition when it had the chance," the filing said.
In a Thursday email that was entered as an exhibit to the motion, a lawyer for the attorney general's office indicated they do not plan to request Judge Arthur Engoron hold Ivanka Trump in contempt. They instead plan to file a motion today to compel her to appear in court, according to the email.
Witness disputes Eric Trump's recollection of appraisals
Over three hours of testimony, real estate executive David McArdle described multiple phone calls, emails, and meetings with Eric Trump to appraise several of the Trump Organization's trophy assets.
But when prosecutors played a video in court of the deposition Eric Trump gave in the case, the Trump Organization VP said he didn't recall working on the appraisals with McArdle.
"I recognize the name very vaguely," Eric Trump said of McArdle on the deposition video. "I really haven't been involved in appraisal work on this property."
"Do you believe that Eric Trump was not involved in the appraisals you worked on?" state attorney Sherief Gaber asked McArdle.
"No," McArdle replied.
Court was subsequently adjourned for the day.
McConney says overvaluation of Trump’s penthouse was incorrect
Former Trump Organization controller Jeff McConney, testifying for the defense, said that he overvalued Donald Trump's penthouse apartment by over $100 million because he relied on an incorrect email.
Judge Arthur Engoron determined in his partial summary judgment that the penthouse was overvalued by as much as $200 million because it was falsely listed as being three times larger than its actual size.
To get to that value, McConney said relied on a Trump Organization broker who falsely represented the apartment was 30,000 square feet.
"I would rely on him. I figured he knew the property a lot better than I did," said McConney, who added that he never spent considerable time in the apartment.
The Trump Organization lowered the value of the penthouse by more than $200 million in 2017 after a Forbes magazine article exposed the error.
McConney's testimony came before he broke down on the stand at the end of his direct examination.