Trump fined $364M in New York civil fraud trial

Donald Trump and his real estate company suffered a major defeat in New York’s civil fraud suit over his inflated asset valuations, after a judge barred the former president from running any business in the state for three years and ordered the return of $364 million in illegal profits. 

The 92-page verdict Friday by Justice Arthur Engoron in Manhattan is a threat to Trump’s real estate empire and the latest legal setback as he campaigns to return to the White House. His two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, were also found liable and barred from being officers of a company in New York for two years. 

Engoron’s ruling is a significant victory for state Attorney General Letitia James, who filed the suit in 2022. During a trial that lasted more than three months, she claimed Trump inflated asset values on annual financial documents for more than a decade to dupe Deutsche Bank and other lenders into giving him better terms on hundreds of millions of dollars in loans.

“In order to borrow more and at lower rates, defendants submitted blatantly false financial data to the accountants, resulting in fraudulent financial statements,” Engoron wrote. “When confronted at trial with the statements, defendants’ fact and expert witnesses simply denied reality, and defendants failed to accept responsibility or to impose internal controls to prevent future recurrences.”

The fine was close to the original $370 million sought by the Attorney General, who also requested that interest be repaid on the illegal profit. It also exceeded the $250 million included in the original complaint, which James increased based on additional evidence presented at trial.

Trump is sure to appeal, potentially dragging out a final resolution of the case into well beyond the November election. Even if he appeals, he would be required to put up a large chunk of the damages in the form of an escrow or bond.

“This verdict is a manifest injustice – plain and simple,” Trump attorney Alina Habba said in a statement. “It is the culmination of a multi-year, politically fueled witch hunt that was designed to ‘take down Donald Trump,’ before Letitia James ever stepped foot into the Attorney General’s office.”

Engoron didn’t impose a lifetime ban preventing Trump from doing business in New York, as sought by the state. But the three-year ban on Trump’s participation as an officer in a business in the state industry is a symbolic blow for the former president, whose career blossomed in New York City. He announced his candidacy for the presidency in 2015 after descending from an escalator in the lobby of his Manhattan headquarters. While Trump has moved to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, New York City is still central to his persona.

The judge also found former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg and former company comptroller Jeffrey McConney liable in the suit.

The judge also modified his September order dissolving the certificates of Trump’s businesses and ability to do business, a ruling that was halted by a Manhattan appeals court in October. The judge instead said he would allow an independent monitor to renew the cancellation “based on substantial evidence.”