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A New York judge has ordered Donald Trump and his two sons to pay $354 million in damages, including additional fines, for overvaluing their real estate empire and committing fraud. Business activities were prohibited.
“The defendants submitted patently false financial data to their accountants in order to borrow more money and at lower interest rates, resulting in fraud,” Judge Arthur Engoron wrote in a 92-page judgment Friday. This resulted in a financial statement that was
Mr. Engoron criticized Mr. Trump and others’ refusal to admit errors in the financial statements, calling it “pathological.” Engoron cited Trump’s decision to triple the size of his penthouse in Trump Tower as an example.
“Their complete lack of repentance and remorse is pathological,” Engoron wrote. “The defendants did not commit murder or arson. They did not rob banks at gunpoint. Donald Trump is not Bernard Madoff. But the defendants are not allowed to admit the error of their ways. you can’t.”
The civil suit was a huge financial blow to the former president, whose namesake buildings are dotted around the world, and a major victory for the state’s attorney general, Letitia James, who filed the suit.
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President Trump slams ‘crooked’ judge and attorney general
Trump slammed the decision on his social media site Truth Social.
“A crooked judge in New York, knowing nothing about me or my company, worked with a completely corrupt attorney general who ran on the basis of ‘I’ll get Trump’ to build They just fined me $355 million for nothing other than what I did. Great company,” he wrote. ” “Election interference. Witch Hunt. “
Trump’s lawyer Alina Haba also condemned the ruling on social media.
“This sentence is a clear injustice, plain and simple,” Hubba said. “This is the culmination of a years-long politically motivated witch hunt aimed at ‘bringing down Donald Trump’ before Letitia James even set foot in the Attorney General’s office.”
Haba added: “If this decision stands, it will send a signal to all Americans that New York is no longer open for business.”
Economic blow to Donald Trump
The decision to fine President Trump more than a third of $1 billion comes three days after a federal jury ordered the former president to pay $83 million to author E. Jean Carroll for civil defamation. Brought in a week later.
“Judge Engoron has imposed an economic death penalty on Mr. Trump,” Neema Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and president of the West Coast Trial Lawyers Association, told USA TODAY. “Even for someone with Trump’s net worth, this decision is a serious blow to Trump’s financial health, especially since Trump is increasingly paying for legal fees in numerous criminal cases.” Especially when you have to spend thousands of dollars.”
Engoron had already accused the Republican presidential frontrunner last year of committing fraud between 2011 and 2021 through “pure sophism” and a “fantasy world” of real estate appraisals that “could only be considered fraudulent.” The court issued a judgment and ordered the business to be suspended. But the appeals court put his order on hold while Engoron presides over a fall trial to determine damages.
The judge ruled that Mr. Trump and his Donald J. It found Finance Director Allen Weisselberg liable for $1 million in damages and imposed a total fine of $364 million. Mr. Engoron also banned Mr. Trump from doing business in New York state for three years.
Trump is campaigning for the White House again, but still faces a high number of infected people.
He has also pleaded not guilty to four criminal charges, an unprecedented number of charges. These include a pending federal election interference case in Washington, a federal case alleging mishandling of classified documents, a Georgia election convention case, and a New York case involving falsification of business records.
Riots, gag orders, and perjury issues
The civil fraud trial in an Engoron courtroom featured fiery testimony from Trump, attacks by the former president on judges and the chief justice, and a $15,000 fine imposed on the 2024 Republican front-runner for violating a gag order. became a feature.
Mr. Trump complained during the trial and during testimony that Mr. Engoron did not listen to him. But in his ruling, the judge described how he weighed the testimony of Mr. Trump and Mr. Weisselberg, who was reportedly in a plea deal with the Manhattan district attorney over possible perjury during his testimony. There is.
“This court listened carefully to every witness, every question, and every answer,” Engoron wrote. “The witnesses testified from a stand about a yard away from the courtroom, and their facial expressions, demeanor, and body language could be observed.”
Citing himself, Engoron wrote, “The court also considered the simple tests of self-interest and other motives, common sense, and overall truthfulness.”
Engoron said he felt Trump was an unreliable witness.
“Overall, Donald Trump answered few questions and frequently interjected long, unrelated speeches on issues far beyond the scope of the trial,” Engoron wrote. “His refusal to answer questions directly, or in some cases not at all, seriously undermined his credibility.”
The judge names Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.
Trump’s sons, Eric Trump Jr. and Donald Trump Jr., were also banned from doing business in New York state for two years. The sons testified numerous times that they relied on their accountants to find errors in the financial statements they signed.
But Engoron found that “until the discovery of this lawsuit,” “Eric Trump’s repeated denials of knowing about his father’s financial statements seriously undermined his credibility.”
When confronted with “massive documentary evidence,” Eric Trump admitted that he knew about the documents,” Engoron wrote.
Donald Trump Jr., who helped run the company with Eric when his father became president, pointed out that in March 2017, Forbes magazine reported that President Trump’s penthouse was three times larger. It was done. Donald Jr. testified in response that he did not remember doing “anything.”
At another point, he testified that he “couldn’t remember who I turned to” to authenticate administrative documents.
Judge: “Trump’s evaluation is a fantasy world”
Mr. Engoron found that Trump companies often valued properties much higher than real estate appraisers and tax preparers. President Trump testified that a disclaimer on property values given to lenders meant the banks knew the estimates were “worthless.”
“This is a fantasy world, not a real world,” Engoron wrote in September.
The judge outlined several apparent disputes surrounding the value of President Trump’s real estate.
- A 200-acre property in Westchester County called Seven Springs LLC was valued at $30 million by Royal Bank of Pennsylvania in 2006 when it was converted into housing. Cushman & Wakefield appraisers estimated its value in 2014 at $30 million. President Trump reported a value of $261 million to $291 million during this period.
- The Trump Park Avenue residential building contained rent-controlled apartments, which Engoron ruled was overvalued by 700%. Mr. Trump’s lawyers argued that the units could eventually become market rental units, but Mr. Engoron said the figure was a “current” value, not a “someday, maybe.” It was determined that it represents a value.
- The rental property at 40 Wall Street in New York was valued at $200 million by Cushman & Wakefield in 2010. However, the Trump Organization valued the property at $525 million in 2011 and $735 million in 2015. Trump said the difference was irrelevant because the lender, Ladder Capital, earned $40 million in interest on the property’s loan. During the trial, Trump continued to claim that James was persecuting him for a victimless crime.
- The market value of Trump’s Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, ranged from $18 million to $27.6 million in the 10 years ending in 2021, according to the Palm Beach County assessor. Trump valued the property at up to $612 million during this period.
- Trump’s own apartment in Trump Tower is 10,996 square feet, but Trump claimed it was 30,000 square feet, according to Engoron. This difference resulted in an overvaluation of $114 million to $207 million, the judge wrote.
“This kind of discrepancy, caused by real estate developers spending decades sizing their living spaces, can only be considered a fraud,” Engoron wrote about the Trump Tower apartments.
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