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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Trump's misrepresentations cost banks $168M, expert testifies

The state's expert witness, Michiel McCarty, calculated that Donald Trump's lenders lost $168 million in potential interest between 2014 and 2023, according to a report he presented in court.

McCarty's testimony appeared to reinforce a central tenet of New York Attorney General Letitia James' case: that Trump's misrepresentations in his financial statements cost banks potential earnings from interest, even if the banks made money on the loans.

State attorney Kevin Wallace directed McCarty to a footnote in Judge Engoron's earlier summary judgment order about the concept of lost interest, in which Engoron said, "The subject loans made the banks lots of money; but the fraudulent SFCs [Statements of Financial Condition] cost the banks lots of money. The less collateral for a loan, the riskier it is, and a first principle of loan accounting is that as risk rises, so do interest rates. Thus, accurate SFCs would have allowed the lenders to make even more money than they did."

McCarty, who said he agreed with this assessment, ultimately found that banks lost a total of $168,040,168 in potential interest from loans related to four of Trump's properties in Miami, New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.

Trump attorney Chris Kise fiercely objected, arguing that McCarty was testifying about facts not established during the trial. During questioning, state attorneys declined to ask a Deutsche Bank executive if the bank would have still done business with Trump had they known his financial statements were inflated.

"They are not ill-gotten gains if the bank does not testify it would have done it differently," Kise said.

"I decided these were ill-gotten," the Judge Engoron replied.

Following Wallace's direct examination of McCarty, defense attorney Jesus Suarez began his cross-examination.


State's expert witness takes the stand

Listing companies like Marriott, Fannie Mae and AT&T, the New York attorney general's lone expert witness, Michiel McCarty, began his testimony by outlining some of the deals he worked on during his nearly 50-year career.

McCarty said that he has worked as an expert witness on "dozens of cases" and testified at 15 trials. But he acknowledged that he had limited experience with the compilation of statements of financial condition, prompting an objection from Trump's lawyer Chris Kise.

"It appears that he does not have the specific experience relevant to the purpose he is here," Kise argued.

Deemed an expert by Judge Engoron, McCarty went on to explain the report he wrote after reviewing Trump's finances.


Former Trump Organization VP testifies about Ivanka Trump

Former Trump Organization VP David Orowitz testified about Ivanka Trump's involvement with Trump's Old Post Office property in Washington, D.C.

"Ivanka wanted me to change the language in the GAAP section. She asked that I review with you," Orowitz wrote in a 2011 email to then-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, referring to the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles used in the preparation of financial documents.

Defense attorneys have previously tried to downplay the extent to which Ivanka Trump was involved in the representation of Trump's finances.

Orowitz subsequently stepped down from the witness stand to make way for Michiel McCarty, the state's sole expert witness, to begin his testimony.


'We have a busy day,' judge says as court gets underway

"We have a busy day and a busy week, so let's try to move things along," Judge Engoron remarked as he brought the courtroom to order to begin the day's proceedings.

"Would you like to continue your witness?" Engoron asked state attorney Eric Haren.

"We would," said Haren, before calling back to the stand former Trump Organization vice president David Orowitz, who began his testimony yesterday afternoon.

Defense attorneys Chris Kise, Alina Habba, and Jesus Suarez are sitting at the counsel table, leaving one seat available for Donald Trump Jr., who has not yet appeared ahead of his scheduled testimony this afternoon.


'The government just got caught in a big, fat lie,' says Trump

Defense attorney Clifford Robert continued to hammer at real estate appraiser Doug Larson during cross-examination.

Larson -- who met with attorneys from the New York attorney general's office on Monday in advance of his testimony -- was asked if he was shown either of the two emails that this morning prompted him to recall having phone calls with Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney, after testifying yesterday that he did not.

"During your prep session Monday, the attorney general didn't show you these two documents?" Robert said while waving printed copies of the two emails in the air, to which Larson replied no.

State attorney Mark Ladov, on redirect examination, read a transcript from an interview with Larson from three years ago, in which Larson was shown the emails and offered a response that was consistent with yesterday's testimony.

"This is beyond absurd," Trump attorney Chris Kise said, objecting to Ladov's approach.

Exiting the courtroom during a break, Trump seized on the Larson's testimony to support his claims that the case should be dismissed.

"The government just got caught in a big, fat lie," Trump said.