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.


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


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Judge suggests Trump attorney is misogynist, threatens gag order

Court concluded for the day with a threat from Judge Engoron to expand the trial's limited gag order to include attorneys, after a clash between the judge and defense counsel.

The judge had previously issued the partial gag order prohibiting defendants from making public comments about his staff, after former President Trump posted online about Engoron's law clerk.

After defense attorney Chris Kise suggested potential bias from the bench, Engoron told him, "Do not refer to my law clerk again."

"Sometimes I think there might be a bit of misogyny," Engoron told Kise.

"I have the right to make points on the record," Kise responded. "If there is bias in the proceedings, I have the right to raise that."

Engoron, pounding on the bench, shouted into his microphone that Kise had no right to hear conversations between the judge and his clerk.

"I have an absolute, unfettered right to get advice from my principal law clerk," Engoron said.

Court is scheduled to resume tomorrow morning when Eric Trump returns to the stand.


'I stick by that 100%' Eric Trump says of appraisal testimony

Eric Trump confidently stood by his past testimony regarding his limited involvement in an appraisal during a heated exchange with state attorney Andrew Amer.

Amer had spent the better part of the afternoon highlighting emails between Eric Trump and a Cushman & Wakefield appraiser, suggesting that Eric Trump was deeply involved in the appraisal of an estate and golf course in New York's Westchester County. Attempting to paint the testimony as inconsistent, Amer played another portion the deposition Eric Trump had given to investigators.

"I pour concrete. I operate properties. I don't focus on appraisals between a law firm and Cushman. It's just not what I do in my day-to-day responsibilities," Eric Trump said in the deposition.

"Will you concede that your testimony ... that you really haven't been involved in appraisal work on this property was incorrect?" Amer then asked Eric Trump on the stand.

"No. I really hadn't been involved with appraisal work on that property," Eric Trump responded. "I was clearly involved to a very small point. I see your emails. One hundred percent. I made phone calls."

When Amer continued to press the issue, Donald Trump's attorney Chris Kise loudly objected.

"Are you running the courtroom, or is the judge?" Kise shouted to Amer. "It's asked and answered, asked and answered, asked and answered, and it's continued all afternoon. At some point it needs to end."

"There are a handful of emails well over ten years ago ... I stick by that 100%" Eric Trump said.


Eric Trump denies ignoring appraisal of luxury NY property

Eric Trump denied that he ignored a professional appraisal that would have significantly lowered the value of his family's Seven Springs estate in New York's Westchester County.

State attorney Andrew Amer attempted to show Eric Trump multiple emails and calendar invites from 2014 and 2015 to demonstrate that he was personally involved in an appraisal by Cushman & Wakefield executive David McArdle that placed the total value of the property's undeveloped lots between $30 and $50 million.

Trump's 2014 financial statement, in contrast, valued the property at $291 million, including $161 for just seven of the undeveloped lots.

"Can we agree that Mr. McArdle's valuation in relation to the easement donation he was doing was disregarded?" Amer asked.

"No, the exercises are apples and oranges. Nothing to do with each other," Eric Trump responded.


Attorney continues to press Eric Trump on financial statement

Eric Trump grew visibly irritated as he appeared to struggle with his testimony regarding his father's statement of financial condition.

Resisting state attorney Andrew Amer's efforts to show he was familiar with the document at the center of the case, he at times raised his voice and punctuated his short answers with phrases like "obviously," "clearly," and "as I previously testified." Other times he responded with lengthy equivocations, prompting Amer to exhort him to keep his answers to "yes or no."

"You don't have to give a speech about that," Judge Engoron implored Eric Trump at one point.

Amer repeatedly asked variations of the same question: Was Eric Trump aware of his father's statement of financial condition?

"This is not something I ever recall seeing or working on," Eric Trump said in one clip from his deposition that was played in court. "This is accounting, and that is not what I do on a daily basis."


Defense expert tells AG lawyer, 'You ought to be ashamed of yourself'

Donald Trump's accounting expert snapped at a lawyer for the New York attorney general after the lawyer suggested his opinion was bought by the defense team.

As accounting expert Eli Bartov was testifying about Trump's use of disclaimers in his financial statements, state attorney Kevin Wallace interjected, saying, "This is pure speculation from someone they hired to say whatever it is they want."

Still in the witness box, Bartov began yelling at Wallace about the comment as Trump sat watching a few feet away.

"You make up allegations that never existed," Bartov shouted. "I am here to tell the truth. You ought to be ashamed of yourself for talking like that."

Bartov, in his testimony, said that Trump's use of disclaimers functioned "just like the warning from the surgeon general on a box of cigarettes."

The accounting expert said that Trump's disclaimers clearly flagged to his lenders that they should conduct their own due diligence regarding the figures, rather than rely on them at face value. Witnesses from Deutsche Bank -- Trump's primary lender during the 2010s -- previously testified that they conducted due diligence and significantly undercut the valuations Trump provided in his financial statement when deciding to offer him loans.

"I never saw anything that is clearer than that," Bartov said about the language in Trump's disclaimer clause. "Even my nine-year-old granddaughter Emma would understand this language."

In his pretrial summary judgment ruling, Judge Engoron dismissed Trump's argument that disclaimer clauses protect him from allegations of fraud. While multiple defense witnesses have attempted to rebut Engoron's opinion about Trump's use of disclaimer clauses, the judge has signaled he stands by his opinion.

"My summary judgment is the law of the case on the legal effect of this paragraph or these sentences," Engoron said in response to Bartov's testimony, adding that the clauses "would not insulate the client."

Nevertheless, Trump attorney Chris Kise requested that Engoron reconsider his finding.

"I am fairly liberal in reconsidering my opinions," Engoron said before Bartov resumed his testimony.