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
James says Trump's testimony doesn't change evidence
New York Attorney General Letitia James, speaking to reporters after court had adjourned, said that Trump's testimony didn't change her case.
"He rambled, he hurled insults, but we expected that," James said. "At the end of the day the documentary evidence demonstrated that, in fact, he inflated his net worth."
The New York AG said she "will not be bullied."
"I will not be harassed -- this case will go on," she said.
Defense says it will finish presenting its case by Dec. 15
Donald Trump's lawyers plan to present a defense case that would conclude by Dec. 15, defense lawyer Chris Kise said.
Before court concluded today, Judge Engoron also advised Trump's lawyers that he would not respond positively to a motion for mistrial based on the actions of his clerk who Trump's attorneys have accused of being biased against the defense and improperly influencing the trial.
"I am directing you not to make that motion," Engoron initially said -- but then he backtracked.
"We obviously are going to be moving for a mistrial -- that is part of the plan. [But] we do not want to put anyone at risk," Trump's lawyer Alina Habba said, requesting clarity about how they can move for a mistrial without violating the case's gag order that prohibits parties from making public statements about the judge's staff.
"You can make that motion. And I'm sorry I yelled at you before," Engoron told Habba.
Court is set to resume on Wednesday with testimony from Ivanka Trump.
Trump steps down from witness stand
After testifying on and off for five hours, Donald Trump has stepped down from the witness stand after completing his direct examination.
State attorney Kevin Wallace concluded his questions by asking Trump about his former CFO Allen Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty to tax evasion, and about internal controls at the Trump Organization.
Weisselberg served three months for tax fraud after he pleaded guilty to 15 felony charges related to his compensation while working for Trump.
"People went after him viciously and violently because he worked for me," Trump said.
Trump said he only learned about Weisselberg's illegal conduct because of the Manhattan district attorney's criminal probe into the Trump Organization and Weisselberg.
"I feel very badly for him," Trump said. "He did a good job for me for a long time."
Regarding the current court case, Wallace asked, "Do you think anything needs to change at the Trump Organization because of what you learned from this lawsuit?"
"I don't think so," Trump said, but suggested he would defer to his new accounting firm.
"We will see if anything will come of it," he said.
Trump displays sharp recall of decade-old transactions
In a workmanlike tone contrasting with the day's initial vitriol, Trump has been issuing mostly terse responses to the state's questions about his properties in Chicago and Washington, D.C.
While earlier witnesses, including Trump's sons and key Trump Organization executives, often struggled to recall details of transactions while on the stand, Trump has been demonstrating a sharp recollection of decade-old transactions and emails.
State attorney Kevin Wallace marched through a series of questions about loan documents related to those properties, with the former president cooperating with his line of inquiry.
When Wallace brought up the loan agreement for a Trump-owned building in Chicago, Trump launched into a defense of the loan, which he said he paid off in full and ahead of schedule.
"This loan was paid off in full, with no default, no problem," Trump said. "It was a very successful loan ... so the bank was thrilled."
"There was no victim," Trump added.
Trump's business drew little scrutiny from bank, defense says
Deutsche Bank was a serious company in business with Donald Trump to make money, defense attorney Jesus Suarez said during his cross examination of former Deutsche Bank executive Nicholas Haigh.
At the height of its relationship with the Trump Organization the company loaned Trump over $378 million, and failed to commission independent appraisals of Trump's properties, Haigh acknowledged. While the bank listed lower estimates for the value of Trump's assets year after year, it continued to do business with Trump and his company.
"We ... the bank hadn't done all the due diligence one would do in the sense of the opinion of value you see in an appraisal," Haigh said, at one point agreeing with the defense's characterization that the bank's internal value services group conducted "sanity checks'' on the numbers.
The direct examination of Haigh by state attorney Kevin Wallace also left a central question about Deutsche Bank's activity unanswered.
In a letter to the court and in previous arguments, lawyers for the attorney general suggested that Haigh might have turned away Trump's business if he had known that Trump's assets were inflated in value.
"As this Court noted during summary judgment arguments, Mr. Haigh testified during OAG's investigation that he may not have authorized lending to the borrower if he had at that time been aware of the inflated asset values contained in Mr. Trump's SFCs [statements of financial condition]," a lawyer for the attorney general wrote to the court in a letter last week.
Wallace never directly posed the hypothetical to Haigh during his direct examination, leaving the question unresolved.
Court subsequently adjourned for the day, with Suarez telling the court he plans to continue his cross examination of Haigh through Thursday afternoon.