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
Trump Jr. says he didn't 'do anything' with triplex info
Donald Trump Jr. testified he largely ignored a 2017 email from a Forbes magazine reporter who asked about the false claim that Donald Trump's triplex apartment in Trump Tower was 30,000 square feet -- about three times larger than its actual size.
Forwarded the message by a Trump Organization executive in 2017, Trump Jr. replied, "Insane amount of stuff there," according to material entered into evidence.
Asked about the email, Trump Jr. said he largely ignored the lengthy email and did not act on it.
"I don't know if I would spend hundreds of questions' worth of time answering questions from Forbes magazine," Trump Jr. said. "I have no specific recollection of doing anything with it."
Despite the error being called out, Trump Jr. and then-CFO Allen Weisselberg still signed off on Trump's 2016 financial statement that falsely claimed Trump's triplex was 30,000 square feet and worth $327 million, according to the New York attorney general's complaint.
Judge Engoron later paused the proceedings for the court's morning break. On his way out of the courtroom, Trump Jr. stopped to chat with the court's sketch artist.
"He said, 'Make me look sexy,'" the artist, Jane Rosenberg, told reporters.
Rosenberg famously sketched Trump Jr.'s father during his arraignment in the Stormy Daniels case, with her work landing on the cover of New Yorker magazine.
I 'signed accordingly,' Trump Jr. says of financial statements
Donald Trump Jr., back on the stand for the second day, testified that the signatures on some of the statements of financial condition at the center of the case were his, but he denied working on them or having intimate knowledge of their contents.
"I would have checked with our legal department. If they assured me in their expert opinion that these things were fine, I would have been fine with that and would have signed accordingly," Trump Jr. said.
Assistant attorney general Colleen Faherty asked if his answer would be the same -- that he had no specific knowledge of the financial statements -- for each of the years between 2017 and 2021, when he was trustee of the revocable trust that held his father's assets.
"Rinse and repeat," Trump Jr. responded. "I think we could save each other a lot of time and effort -- yes, it would be the same thing."
Donald Trump Jr. resumes testimony
Donald Trump Jr. is back on the witness stand for his second day of testimony.
When he entered the courtroom, he briefly walked by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is seated in the first row of the court's gallery.
His entrance was followed by a brief photo opportunity for news photographers before court got underway.
After Trump Jr. quipped during yesterday's photo op that he should have worn makeup, Judge Engoron jokingly asked him during the photos this morning, "Did you remember for today?"
Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump arrive at courthouse
Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have arrived together at the New York State Supreme Courthouse for their testimony today.
Trump Jr. is scheduled to complete his testimony from yesterday, after which Eric Trump is scheduled to take the stand.
New York Attorney General Letitia James arrived shortly after the Trumps and took a seat in the courtroom.
Trial scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. ET
The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump, et al, is scheduled to get underway in lower Manhattan at 10 a.m. with opening statements.
If opening statements are completed before the end of the day, the New York attorney general plans to begin her case by calling Trump's former Mazars USA accountant Donald Bender to the stand.
Mazars severed its business relationship with the former president last year after learning of the attorney general's findings during the AG's probe.