Former
U.S.
President
Donald
Trump
walks
outside
the
courtroom
on
the
day
of
a
court
hearing
on
charges
of
falsifying
business
records
to
cover
up
a
hush
money
payment
to
a
porn
star
before
the
2016
election,
in
New
York
State
Supreme
Court
in
the
Manhattan
borough
of
New
York
City,
U.S.,
February
15,
2024.
Andrew
Kelly
|
Reuters
A
New
York
judge
on
Friday
ordered
Donald
Trump
to
pay
about
$454
million
in
total
penalties
as
part
of
his
ruling
in
the
former
president’s
civil
business
fraud
trial.
The
staggering
figure
includes
about
$355
million
in
disgorgement,
a
term
for
returning
ill-gotten
gains,
plus
more
than
$98
million
in
prejudgment
interest
that
will
accrue
every
day
until
it
is
paid,
according
to
a
spokesperson
for
the
attorney
general’s
office.
Manhattan
Supreme
Court
Judge
Arthur
Engoron
also
barred
Trump
from
running
a
business
in
New
York
for
three
years.
The
former
president
also
faces
a
three-year
ban
on
applying
for
loans
from
financial
institutions
registered
with
the
state.
“New
York
means
business
in
combating
business
fraud,”
Engoron
wrote
in
the
92-page
ruling.
The
judge
delivered
the
final
decision
from
the
trial,
which
was
held
without
a
jury.
“We’ve
employed
tens
of
thousands
of
people
in
New
York,
and
we
pay
taxes
like
few
other
people
have
ever
paid
in
New
York,”
Trump
said
in
remarks
at
his
Mar-a-Lago
resort
after
the
ruling.
“They
don’t
care
about
that.
It’s
a
state
that’s
going
bust
because
everybody’s
leaving.”
His
attorney
Chris
Kise
said
in
a
statement
earlier
Friday
that
Trump
“will
of
course
appeal.”
The
former
president
“remains
confident
the
Appellate
Division
will
ultimately
correct
the
innumerable
and
catastrophic
errors
made
by
a
trial
court
untethered
to
the
law
or
to
reality,”
Kise
said.
The
appeals
process
could
take
several
years
to
resolve.
The
explosive
trial
stemmed
from
New
York
Attorney
General
Letitia
James’
lawsuit
accusing
Trump,
his
two
adult
sons,
his
company
and
top
executives
of
fraudulently
inflating
Trump’s
assets
to
boost
his
stated
net
worth
and
obtain
various
financial
perks.
“There
simply
cannot
be
different
rules
for
different
people,”
James
said
in
a
statement
celebrating
the
ruling
Friday
afternoon.
“Everyday
Americans
cannot
lie
to
a
bank
to
get
a
mortgage
to
buy
a
home,
and
if
they
did,
our
government
would
throw
the
book
at
them,”
James
said.
James
had
asked
Engoron
to
ban
Trump
for
life
from
New
York’s
real
estate
industry,
and
for
$370
million
in
disgorgement.
Instead,
Engoron
fined
Trump
$354,868,768
in
disgorgement.
He
also
ordered
Trump
to
pay
a
total
of
$98.6
million
in
prejudgment
interest,
which
will
accrue
at
an
annual
rate
of
9%.
The
grand
total,
including
disgorgement
and
interest,
for
all
defendants
in
the
case:
just
under
$464
million.
Of
that
sum,
Eric
Trump
and
Donald
Trump
Jr.,
who
took
over
the
Trump
Organization
after
their
father
became
president
in
2017,
have
been
ordered
to
pay
more
than
$4
million
each.
Eric
and
Donald
Jr.
also
face
two-year
bans
from
serving
as
officers
or
directors
of
any
New
York
corporation
or
legal
entity.
Co-defendants
Allen
Weisselberg,
the
Trump
Organization’s
former
chief
financial
officer,
and
the
company’s
comptroller,
Jeffrey
McConney,
are
permanently
banned
from
controlling
the
finances
of
a
New
York
business,
Engoron
ruled.
But
the
judge
vacated
his
own
prior
directive
to
cancel
the
defendants’
business
certificates,
meaning
he
is
no
longer
pursuing
what
some
legal
experts
described
as
a
“corporate
death
penalty”
for
the
Trump
Organization.
The
decision
is
only
the
latest
court-ordered
punishment
imposed
on
Trump,
who
is
running
for
president
while
dealing
with
numerous
criminal
and
civil
lawsuits.
Last
month,
a
jury
in
a
separate
civil
case
in
New
York
federal
court
ordered
Trump
to
pay
$83.3
million
for
defaming
writer
E.
Jean
Carroll
when
he
responded
to
her
claim
that
he
had
raped
her
in
the
mid-1990s.
Trump
is
the
clear
front-runner
for
the
Republican
presidential
nomination,
setting
up
a
likely
rematch
with
President
Joe
Biden,
who
beat
him
in
2020.
Lawyers
for
Trump
and
the
other
defendants
quickly
blasted
Friday’s
ruling,
accusing
the
judge
and
the
prosecutor
of
political
bias
and
warning
that
the
outcome
will
drive
business
away
from
New
York.
“Countless
hours
of
testimony
proved
that
there
was
no
wrongdoing,
no
crime,
and
no
victim,”
Trump
attorney
Alina
Habba
said
in
a
statement.
But
Engoron
wrote
in
his
ruling
that
the
statute
used
in
the
case
does
not
require
that
a
victim
lose
money.
“It
is
undisputed
that
defendants
have
made
all
required
payments
on
time;
the
next
group
of
lenders
to
receive
bogus
statements
might
not
be
so
lucky,”
he
wrote.
“Defendants
submitted
blatantly
false
financial
data”
as
they
sought
to
borrow
more
money
at
better
loan
rates,
“resulting
in
fraudulent
financial
statements,”
Engoron
wrote.
He
also
pointed
to
the
Trump
team’s
legal
defenses,
saying
they
proved
the
company
and
its
officers
would
keep
operating
the
same
way
they
always
had
unless
he
forced
them
to
change.
“When
confronted
at
trial
with
the
statements,
defendants’
fact
and
expert
witnesses
simply
denied
reality,”
the
judge
wrote.
Their
“refusal
to
admit
error”
led
the
judge
to
conclude
“that
they
will
engage
in
it
going
forward
unless
judicially
restrained.”
“Indeed,
Donald
Trump
testified
that,
even
today,
he
does
not
believe
the
Trump
Organization
needed
to
make
any
changes
based
on
the
facts
that
came
out
during
this
trial,”
Engoron
wrote.
“Their
complete
lack
of
contrition
and
remorse
borders
on
pathological.”
Trump
has
frequently
raged
against
his
many
legal
battles
as
“witch
hunts,”
claiming
they
are
part
of
a
Biden
administration-backed
conspiracy
to
tank
his
political
ambitions.
He
vociferously
denied
all
wrongdoing
in
the
New
York
fraud
case,
blaring
his
claims
of
total
innocence
on
social
media,
at
the
courthouse
and
even
on
the
witness
stand.
Trump
claimed
to
be
worth
far
more
than
what
was
reported
on
his
financial
statements,
while
asserting
that
a
disclaimer
on
the
records
protected
him
from
liability
for
any
inaccuracies.
But
Trump
and
the
other
defendants
were
found
liable
for
fraud
by
Engoron
before
the
trial
even
began.
In
a
bombshell
pretrial
ruling,
Engoron
granted
summary
judgment
on
James’
main
cause
of
action
—
that
the
defendants
committed
fraud
in
violation
of
New
York
law.
Engoron
found
that
Trump’s
statements
of
financial
condition
between
2014
and
2021
overvalued
his
assets
between
$812
million
and
$2.2
billion.
The
ruling
razed
Trump’s
defense
claims,
accusing
him
and
his
co-defendants
of
trying
to
convince
the
court
to
“not
believe
its
own
eyes.”
The
trial
was
conducted
to
determine
the
amount
to
be
paid
in
penalties
and
resolve
other
claims
of
wrongdoing
from
James’
lawsuit.
The
trial
also
doubled
as
a
soapbox
for
Trump
to
air
his
grievances
about
his
perceived
political
foes,
including
those
sitting
feet
away
from
him
in
court.
On
the
witness
stand,
Trump
railed
against
Engoron
and
James
while
defending
the
values
that
were
reported
on
his
statements
of
financial
condition.
Trump
also
tore
into
another
key
witness,
his
former
fixer
and
personal
lawyer
Michael
Cohen,
who
testified
that
Trump
had
directed
him
to
falsely
manipulate
his
net
worth.
Trump’s
venting
brought
consequences.
On
the
second
day
of
the
trial,
Engoron
imposed
a
narrow
gag
order
after
Trump
repeatedly
targeted
the
judge’s
principal
law
clerk,
Allison
Greenfield,
who
sat
in
court.
Trump
violated
the
gag
order
twice
within
four
weeks,
catching
fines
totaling
$15,000.
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