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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Former Trump Organization VP to continue testimony

Former Trump Organization Vice President Raymond Flores is scheduled to return to the witness stand this morning.

Flores’ testimony, which began on Oct. 20, was postponed after a COVID-19 exposure delayed proceedings last week.

Flores was asked during his testimony earlier this month about his role in reviewing Trump’s financial statements and overseeing his golf courses, but said he could recall few details about his work in those areas.


Trump pays $15,000 in gag order fines

Former President Donald Trump's lawyers have paid $15,000 to the New York Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection on behalf of the former president for his two gag order violations.

Judge Arthur Engoron fined Trump twice for violating his limited gag order prohibiting public statements about members of his staff.

Trump was fined $10,000 this week for a statement he made to reporters in court, which Engoron determined was in reference to his clerk. He was fined $5,000 last Friday for inadvertently keeping a Truth Social post -- which prompted the initial gag order -- on his campaign website after deleting it from his Truth Social account.

"Without waiving any rights or remedies, including, without limitation, any rights to appeal said orders, on behalf of our client, we enclose herewith a check from our attorney trust account in the amount of $15,000 in accordance with the court's orders," defense lawyer Alina Hanna wrote in a filing posted today.

Trump's lawyer Chris Kise signaled in court Thursday that Trump will likely appeal the most recent $10,000 violation.


Tax lawyer Sheri Dillon concludes testimony

State attorney Louis Solomon concluded his direct examination of tax lawyer Sheri Dillon after a series of questions about an appraisal of former President Donald Trump’s Seven Springs estate in New York.

A 2015 appraisal of the estate valued the entire property at $56.5 million, according to documents presented at trial, though Trump’s financial statements valued the property between $261 and $291 million from 2011 to 2021.

Dillon, who Judge Arthur Engoron deemed a hostile witness Thursday, struggled to recall with whom at the Trump Organization she might have discussed the appraisal. She added that she could not recall if she mentioned the appraisal in relation to the value of the estate in Trump’s financial statements.

“I have no idea if I told them the [appraised] value of the property,” Dillon testified. She later added, “It’s not like every Monday we talk about conservation easements.”


AG sets schedule for testimony from Donald Trump, his children

New York Attorney General Letitia James will likely rest her case against former President Donald Trump during the week of Nov. 6 following at least four days of testimony from Trump and his children.

State attorney Kevin Wallace told Judge Arthur Engoron that the state plans to call Donald Trump Jr. on Wednesday, followed by Eric and Ivanka Trump on the following Thursday and Friday, respectively.

The state’s final witness, the former president, will likely begin his direct examination on Monday, Nov. 6, according to Wallace.

“We like to keep families together,” Engoron joked as Wallace set the schedule.

Trump’s lawyer, Chris Kise, previously told ABC News that he plans to recall some Trump Organization witnesses for the defense’s own case, meaning the trial is likely to stretch into November or later before concluding.


Statements appear to ignore appraisals of undeveloped lots

Cushman & Wakefield executive David McArdle, who was hired to appraise the value of 71 undeveloped residential units at the Trump National Golf Club in Westchester County, New York, testified that he also conducted multiple appraisals for conservation easements at the property in 2014 and 2015.

Signing a conservation easement would allow the Trump Organization to give up their development rights and treat the difference in property value as a charitable donation, according to the New York attorney general.

By giving up the right to develop the 71 residential units, McArdle found that the donation was worth $43 million, according to an April 2014 appraisal. A later appraisal McArdle conducted in 2015 landed on a similar valuation of $45.2 million.

But Trump's financial statements from those years appear to ignore the appraisals, valuing the land from the undeveloped units at $101 million, according to documents entered into evidence.

"Based on the supporting data, the only source for the increase in the number of units and profit per unit were telephone conversations with Eric Trump," the New York attorney general alleged in her complaint.

McArdle also testified that he was consulted to appraise Seven Springs, a New York estate Trump purchased for $7.5 million in 1995.

To value the property, which could be subdivided into 24 to 26 residential lots, McArdle testified that he toured the site, consulted a local expert, and spoke with Eric Trump on multiple occasions.

"He had a very high opinion of the property, which didn't surprise me," McArdle said.

His appraisal ultimately determined the total value for the lots in 2014 was $30-$50 million, McArdle said.

But the New York attorney general alleges that appraisal was ignored in Trump's 2014 financial statement, in favor of a "false and misleading" value of $161 million for a portion of the undeveloped lots.