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.
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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
Trump arrives in court
Donald Trump has arrived in court for the anticipated testimony of his former lawyer Michael Cohen.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is also attending the trial this morning.
James took her usual seat at the front of the courtroom's gallery, directly behind her team of lawyers at the counsel table.
The courtroom itself is nearly at capacity, with attendance matching the number of observers during the trial's opening statements.
Cohen expected to testify after Mazars attorney
Donald Trump's former lawyer and self-described "fixer" is scheduled as the second witness to testify today at the trial.
Bill Kelly, a lawyer at Trump's former accounting firm, Mazars USA, is set to begin his testimony this morning.
Mazars issued Trump's statements of financial condition before severing its business relationship with the Trump Organization last year and withdrawing the statements issued between 2011 and 2020.
"We have come to this conclusion based, in part, upon the filings made by the New York Attorney General on January 18, 2022, our own investigation, and information received from internal and external sources," Kelly wrote in a 2022 letter to the Trump Organization.
Trump's lawyers appeal sanctions imposed before trial
Trump defense lawyers Chris Kise, Clifford Robert, and Michael Farina have appealed Judge Arthur Engoron's decision to sanction and fine them for making frivolous arguments during pretrial arguments.
On the eve of trial, Engoron sanctioned the attorneys for their "continued reliance on bogus arguments," and ordered each to pay a $7,500 fine.
"Sanctions are the only way to impress upon defendants' attorneys the consequences of engaging in repetitive, frivolous motion practice after this Court," Engoron wrote in his decision at the time.
In their filing, the lawyers have asked an appeals court to determine if Engoron "committed errors of law and/or fact, abused its discretion, and/or acted in excess of its jurisdiction."
Trial delayed until Tuesday due to COVID-19 exposures
Former President Trump's civil fraud trial is adjourned until Tuesday due to COVID-19 exposures, the New York attorney general's office has announced.
Officials did not say who had been exposed or when.
Trump attended the trial on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week and said on Wednesday that he could return to court for the testimony of his former attorney Michael Cohen, which could begin tomorrow.
The trial is scheduled to continue tomorrow morning with testimony from a lawyer at Trump's former accounting firm, Mazars USA, followed by Cohen.
Week Three of the trial concluded on Friday with Judge Engoron fining Trump $5,000 for violating a gag order the judge had issued prohibiting social media posts and statements about the judge's staff.
While Engoron found that Trump's violation was "inadvertent," he threatened additional fines or possibly even jail time if Trump violated the order again.
Trump Jr. pressed about departure of ex-CFO
Donald Trump Jr. struggled to answer questions when pressed about why former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg departed the family's firm.
"Because some legal issues he got himself into," Trump Jr. said, declining to offer specifics about Weisselberg's guilty plea on tax evasion charges last year.
Previously giving lengthy answers to questions about his background and even smiling with the judge, Trump Jr. appeared tense on the witness stand as he answered questions about Weisselberg.
"The specific event was he was indicted," Trump Jr. said.
He added that when began working for the Trump Organization as an executive vice president in the 2010s, Weisselberg outranked him. Trump Jr. would seek Weisselberg's approval for certain business decisions such as refinancing loans.
"Who is above you in your role as an executive vice president in the Trump Organization?" state attorney Colleen Faherty asked.
"Obviously I would have reported to my father in that period of time … people like Allen Weisselberg would have still been senior to me," Trump Jr. said of that time period.
Trump Jr. said he gained more responsibility in 2016 when his father became president and he was named a trustee of his father's revocable trust. He said that he, Weisselberg and his brother Eric Trump became a kind of triumvirate running the Trump Organization.
"We stopped reporting to my father on decisions involving the business," Trump Jr. said.
That relationship broke down once Weisselberg got himself into "legal issues," Trump Jr. said. He testified that he could not recall the circumstances of Weisselberg's exit, including the multimillion-dollar severance deal that Weisselberg received, which Weisselberg faced questions about during his own testimony earlier this month.
"I have no knowledge of the specifics of how it happened. He is no longer working at the Trump Organization," Trump Jr. said of the former CFO.