Former President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization were fined over $350 million by Judge Arthur Engoron in a civil fraud case on Friday. Additionally, Judge Engoron barred Trump from holding any officer or director positions in any New York corporation for a period of three years.
New York Attorney General Letitia James had initially sought a $370 million fine and a lifetime ban from the real estate industry in New York State, accusing Trump of financial fraud. Trump intends to appeal the ruling, stating that the case should never have been brought and that he should be entitled to damages. Constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley criticized the judgment, describing it as confiscatory, extreme, and abusive. This is the second ruling this year in which Trump has been found guilty and required to pay millions. In a defamation case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, the judge ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million.
NBC News reported:
“James contended the defendants used the inflated financial statements to obtain bank loans and insurance policies at rates he otherwise wouldn’t have been entitled to and “reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains.”
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“Among the examples cited as fraud by the attorney general’s office during the trial was Trump valuing his triplex home in Trump Tower in New York City at three times its actual size and value, as well as including a brand value to increase the valuation of his golf courses on the financial statements, which explicitly said brand values were not included.
“Another example pointed to by the attorney general clearly got under his skin — a dispute over the value of Mar-a-Lago, his social club and residence in Florida. Trump’s financial statements between 2011 and 2021 valued Mar-a-Lago at between $426 million and $612 million, while the Palm Beach County assessor appraised the property’s market value to be between $18 million and $27 million during the same timeframe.”
Trump’s children were also hit with fines, per CNN:
“Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump’s adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, liable for a host of civil fraud counts in New York, including issuing false financial statements, falsifying business records and conspiracy.
“He ordered them each to pay $4 million for their personal profits from the fraud.
“In addition, Engoron fined former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg $1 million.”
James is pursuing legal action against Trump, which is just one of numerous legal battles the ex-president is currently dealing with. A total of four indictments have been filed by local and federal prosecutors against the former president.
These indictments encompass a total of 91 counts: 34 counts in New York, carrying a maximum penalty of 136 years; 40 counts in Miami, with a potential sentence of up to 450 years; four counts in Washington, DC, with a maximum of 55 years; and 13 counts in Georgia, with a possible sentence of 76.5 years.