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's case does not age like fine wine, NY AG lawyer says
In a letter the Judge Arthur Engoron, a lawyer for the New York attorney general said Donald Trump's most recent request for a directed verdict in the case is nothing more than a "political stunt designed to provide Mr. Trump, his co-defendants, and their counsel with sound bites for press conferences, Truth Social posts, and cable news appearances."
Trump's lawyers on Friday made their fifth motion for a directed verdict to end the case for lack of evidence, which Engoron earlier said he was all but certain to deny. The judge has rejected all four of Trump's previous motions for a directed verdict.
"Unlike a fine Bordeaux, Defendants' case for a directed verdict does not improve with age," state attorney Andrew Amer wrote in Monday's letter to the judge.
Amer also argued that Trump's request was not merited given the evidence presented at trial, saying that "Nor does any of the testimony from the most ineffective team of experts that Defendants' money can buy change the analysis."
"Defendants are once again 'whistling past the graveyard' by relying on arguments the Court has already rejected," Amer said, referring in part to Engoron's pretrial partial summary judgment ruling, in which he found that Trump used fraudulent statements to conduct business.
Trump files 5th motion for directed verdict
Donald Trump's lawyers made their fifth motion for a directed verdict in the former president's fraud trial in a filing late Friday that appears destined to be rejected.
Judge Arthur Engoron all but guaranteed he would deny the request to end the trial when Trump's lawyer Chris Kise announced his plans to file the motion earlier this week.
"There is no way I am going to grant that," Engoron said on Tuesday. "You'd be wasting your time."
Trump's lawyers nevertheless filed their motion late Friday.
"In sum, there was no fraud, there were no victims, there has simply been no harm or actionable misconduct, and the Court must and should follow the law of the case regarding the scope of the claims at issue," Trump's lawyers wrote.
In the filing, Trump's attorneys targeted New York Attorney General Letitia James' request to fine Trump nearly $400 million for ill-gotten gains by arguing that the state failed to demonstrate that Trump and his sons intended to defraud his lenders or that they engaged in a conspiracy to commit fraud.
"Not a single defense witness supported the notion of any alleged conspiracy, and in fact such testimony refuted fully the existence of the same," the lawyers wrote, calling Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen, who testified about the alleged conspiracy, a "demonstrable, perpetual, and serial liar."
They also argued that James failed to prove that any of Trump's alleged misrepresentations would have materially changed the loans he received from his lenders, writing that the alleged misstatements had "no actual significance" to Trump's lenders.
All four of Trump's previous motions for a directed verdict to end the case for lack of evidence have been rejected by Judge Engoron.
Trump files notice he intends to appeal gag order decision
Donald Trump wants New York's highest court to weigh in on the limited gag order in his civil fraud trial, according to a new filing Friday afternoon.
New York's Appellate Division shot down Trump's earlier challenge Thursday, determining that Trump used the incorrect legal avenue to challenge the limited gag order, which bars him from commenting on Judge Arthur Engoron's staff.
In a notice of appeal filed Friday, Trump's lawyers said they plan to appeal the decision to the Albany-based Court of Appeals -- New York's highest court.
It's unclear if the Court of Appeals will consider the request because Trump also lost a motion for leave to appeal the gag order.
Trump's gag order appeal stuck in 'procedural purgatory'
Donald Trump appears to be out of options to appeal the limited gag orders in his civil fraud trial, with his own lawyer describing his options as "procedural purgatory."
In addition to Thursday morning's appellate decision denying Trump's appeal, a panel of appellate judges issued an additional order Thursday denying his request to elevate his appeal to New York's highest court.
The decision forces Trump back to Step 1: asking Judge Arthur Engoron to vacate the gag orders, then appealing the judge's likely denial.
But the timeline for that process is unlikely to work in Trump's favor, with the evidentiary portion of the trial having concluded Wednesday and closing arguments scheduled for Jan. 11.
"We filed the petition because the ordinary appellate process is essentially pointless in this context as it cannot possibly be completed in time to reverse the ongoing harm," Trump attorney Chris Kise told ABC News in a statement regarding the gag orders, which prohibit Trump and attorneys from commenting on the judge's staff.
"Unfortunately, the decision denies President Trump the only path available to expedited relief and places his fundamental Constitutional rights in a procedural purgatory," Kise said.
'We can all read,' judge chides defense attorney
Defense attorney Jesus Suarez spent the first hour of court walking former Deutsche Bank executive Nicholas Haigh through a year-by-year review of the bank's credit reports about Trump's loans.
Under questioning, Haigh has acknowledged that Deutsche Bank's analysis supported approving Trump's loans.
At the same time, Suarez' approach is testing Judge Arthur Engoron's patience.
"We can all read, so I don't know why we are spending so much time on this," Engoron said at one point, describing the testimony as "redundant" and "obvious."
Engoron also criticized Suarez for appearing to highlight the fact that Trump never defaulted on the loans themselves -- an issue that is uncontested by both sides in the case.