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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McConney says he corrected inflated value of Ivanka's apartment

The Trump Organization's longtime controller testified that he overvalued Ivanka Trump's apartment in her father's statement of financial condition before correcting the mistake after it was flagged.

New York Attorney General Letitia James alleges that a penthouse apartment rented by Ivanka Trump was valued in Donald Trump's financial statement at $45 million in 2014 and 2015, despite the apartment's rental agreement including an option to purchase the apartment for $14 million.

From 2016 onward, the value of the penthouse in Trump's statements dropped back down the actual buyout price of $14 million, "per rental agreement."

Asked about the change during his testimony today, McConney acknowledged the correction, claiming he did not know about the provision in the rental agreement.

McConney said that once outside accountant Donald Bender of Mazars USA flagged the issue, he promptly made the change in Trump's financial statement.

McConney concluded his testimony for the day and is set to return to the witness stand Tuesday morning.


Controller testifies he relied on outside accountants

With an overwhelming number of entities to track in addition to numerous other responsibilities, the Trump Organization's longtime controller Jeffrey McConney said he relied on outside accountants to put together Trump's statements of financial condition.

While the statement took up a portion of his time between July and October each year, McConney testified that he otherwise spent "very little time" on the financial statements that underpin the attorney general's case.

The descriptions of each entity in the statements, and the disclaimers, largely remained the same year after year, according to McConney.

"A lot of this was Gerald Rosenblum's writing," he said about the section describing Trump Tower, referring to a former outside accountant.

"Whose words are those?" defense attorney Jesus Suarez said about a disclaimer that said that the value of "Donald J. Trump's worldwide reputation" was not considered in the statement.

"Mazars," McConney responded.

He added that Trump would make any change that Mazars recommended and largely followed the lead of then-Mazars accountant Donald Bender when modifying the statement.

"If [Bender] had items that he needed on the statement to change, we made the change," McConney said.


Controller denies keeping documents from outside accountants

Longtime Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney, a defendant in the attorney general's case, denied withholding any documents from the company's outside accountants -- appearing to contradict testimony from Mazars USA accountant Donald Bender.

"We provided him everything he needed," McConney said, adding that Bender could request any document he wanted from the Trump Organization.

McConney, testifying for the defense, added that Bender also could directly communicate with individuals in the Trump Organization to directly ask questions during the process of organizing Trump's financial statements that are at the center of the case.

"Bender would come in and talk to anyone he wanted," McConney said.

When Bender testified last month during the state's case, he said that he directly asked McConney if the company had more appraisals, to which McConney responded, "That's all we have."

"They were not giving us all the documents that we needed, potentially, to compile the compilation," Bender testified.

Asked about the allegation on the witness stand, McConney denied he withheld anything from Bender.

"Did you ever hide anything from Donald Bender?" defense attorney Jesus Suarez asked.

"No," McConney responded.


Co-defendant Jeffrey McConney returns to stand

Forty-five days after he began his testimony as the third witness in the state's case, former Trump Organization controller and co-defendant Jeffrey McConney has returned to the witness stand for the defense.

When he testified last month, McConney -- who was the primary person responsible for the valuations in Trump's statement of financial statements between 2011 and 2017 -- struggled to recall specific details about the preparation of the financial documents, though he acknowledged he took direction from Eric Trump about the value of a Westchester golf course.

This afternoon, after asking some preliminary questions about McConney's biography, defense attorney Jesus Suarez began asking McConney pointed questions about Mazars USA accountant Donald Bender, another witness in the state's case.

"Whatever he asked for, we would do," McConney said about Bender's role in the process of compiling Trump's financial statement.


Trump Organization executive says CFO had final say

Trump Organization executive Patrick Birney testified that CFO Allen Weisselberg and controller Jeffrey McConney had the final say on Trump's financial documents when he worked under them.

"I was not the final decision maker," said Birney, who was an assistant vice president at the time.

Birney joined the Trump Organization in 2015, a few years after he graduated from the University of Michigan. He began helping with Trump's statement of financial condition in 2016 and eventually took over preparing the vital financial document, though he acknowledged in court that he initially lacked some basic knowledge about accounting and finance.

Asked if he ever had valued a property using a capitalization rate, he replied, "I don't think so."

Birney said he would often turn to McConney if he needed specific documents, and that he reviewed drafts of the statement with Weisselberg.

"He would review drafts with me that I would provide him," Birney said. He later added, "Allen Weisselberg had the authority to approve everything."