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 suggests Trump attorney is misogynist, threatens gag order
Court concluded for the day with a threat from Judge Engoron to expand the trial's limited gag order to include attorneys, after a clash between the judge and defense counsel.
The judge had previously issued the partial gag order prohibiting defendants from making public comments about his staff, after former President Trump posted online about Engoron's law clerk.
After defense attorney Chris Kise suggested potential bias from the bench, Engoron told him, "Do not refer to my law clerk again."
"Sometimes I think there might be a bit of misogyny," Engoron told Kise.
"I have the right to make points on the record," Kise responded. "If there is bias in the proceedings, I have the right to raise that."
Engoron, pounding on the bench, shouted into his microphone that Kise had no right to hear conversations between the judge and his clerk.
"I have an absolute, unfettered right to get advice from my principal law clerk," Engoron said.
Court is scheduled to resume tomorrow morning when Eric Trump returns to the stand.
'I stick by that 100%' Eric Trump says of appraisal testimony
Eric Trump confidently stood by his past testimony regarding his limited involvement in an appraisal during a heated exchange with state attorney Andrew Amer.
Amer had spent the better part of the afternoon highlighting emails between Eric Trump and a Cushman & Wakefield appraiser, suggesting that Eric Trump was deeply involved in the appraisal of an estate and golf course in New York's Westchester County. Attempting to paint the testimony as inconsistent, Amer played another portion the deposition Eric Trump had given to investigators.
"I pour concrete. I operate properties. I don't focus on appraisals between a law firm and Cushman. It's just not what I do in my day-to-day responsibilities," Eric Trump said in the deposition.
"Will you concede that your testimony ... that you really haven't been involved in appraisal work on this property was incorrect?" Amer then asked Eric Trump on the stand.
"No. I really hadn't been involved with appraisal work on that property," Eric Trump responded. "I was clearly involved to a very small point. I see your emails. One hundred percent. I made phone calls."
When Amer continued to press the issue, Donald Trump's attorney Chris Kise loudly objected.
"Are you running the courtroom, or is the judge?" Kise shouted to Amer. "It's asked and answered, asked and answered, asked and answered, and it's continued all afternoon. At some point it needs to end."
"There are a handful of emails well over ten years ago ... I stick by that 100%" Eric Trump said.
Eric Trump denies ignoring appraisal of luxury NY property
Eric Trump denied that he ignored a professional appraisal that would have significantly lowered the value of his family's Seven Springs estate in New York's Westchester County.
State attorney Andrew Amer attempted to show Eric Trump multiple emails and calendar invites from 2014 and 2015 to demonstrate that he was personally involved in an appraisal by Cushman & Wakefield executive David McArdle that placed the total value of the property's undeveloped lots between $30 and $50 million.
Trump's 2014 financial statement, in contrast, valued the property at $291 million, including $161 for just seven of the undeveloped lots.
"Can we agree that Mr. McArdle's valuation in relation to the easement donation he was doing was disregarded?" Amer asked.
"No, the exercises are apples and oranges. Nothing to do with each other," Eric Trump responded.
Attorney continues to press Eric Trump on financial statement
Eric Trump grew visibly irritated as he appeared to struggle with his testimony regarding his father's statement of financial condition.
Resisting state attorney Andrew Amer's efforts to show he was familiar with the document at the center of the case, he at times raised his voice and punctuated his short answers with phrases like "obviously," "clearly," and "as I previously testified." Other times he responded with lengthy equivocations, prompting Amer to exhort him to keep his answers to "yes or no."
"You don't have to give a speech about that," Judge Engoron implored Eric Trump at one point.
Amer repeatedly asked variations of the same question: Was Eric Trump aware of his father's statement of financial condition?
"This is not something I ever recall seeing or working on," Eric Trump said in one clip from his deposition that was played in court. "This is accounting, and that is not what I do on a daily basis."
Trump indicates he'll attend more days
Former President Trump took swipes at the attorney general and the judge overseeing his case during a break, calling the trial a "disgrace," and saying that he will return over the course of proceedings.
"I'll be seeing a lot of you," he told reporters, "because this is a horrible thing that's happening to this country."
He again claimed the civil lawsuit brought by AG Letitia James -- as well as the litany of other cases he faces -- are politically motivated.
"If I weren't leading in all the polls, or if I weren't running, I wouldn't have any of these cases," Trump said.