A New York judge on Friday ruled once morest Donald Trump, imposing a $364 million fine, ruling that he and his sons deliberately inflated their net worth by billions of dollars to defraud banks and insurers.
Trump was also barred from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation for three years.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron’s ruling, which came following a 2.5-month trial, might see the 77-year-old Trump stripped of his control over the iconic Trump Tower and other properties in New York.
The stiff sentence was a victory for New York Attorney General Leticia James, a Democrat, who sued Trump over what she said was not just a harmless boast but years of deceptive practices as he built his multinational collection of skyscrapers, golf courses and more properties that catapulted him to wealth, fame and the White House.
Trump’s lawyers had said even before the verdict that they would appeal.
James sued Trump in 2022 under a state law that authorizes her to investigate the ongoing fraud in business transactions.
The lawsuit accused Trump and his co-defendants of systematically inflating their financial statements to create the illusion that his properties were worth more than they actually were. State attorneys said Trump overstated his wealth by $3.6 billion in one year.
By making himself appear wealthier, Trump qualified for better loan terms, saved on interest and was able to complete projects he might not have otherwise completed, state attorneys said.
Trump’s statement
Trump, one of 40 witnesses who testified at trial, said his financial statements actually understated his net worth and that the banks did their own research and were happy with his business.
“There was no victim. There was nothing,” Trump testified in November.
During the trial, Trump called the judge “extremely hostile” and the attorney general a “political jackass.”
In a six-minute speech during the closing arguments in January, Trump declared “I am innocent” and called the case a “fraud once morest me.”
Trump’s legal battles
The lawsuit is one of several legal headaches for Trump as he campaigns to return to the White House.
He has gone on trial four times in the past year – charged in Georgia and Washington with conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, in Florida with stockpiling classified documents and in Manhattan with falsifying business records relating to money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels on his behalf.
Those criminal charges did not appear to undermine his run toward the Republican presidential nomination, but the civil lawsuits have threatened him financially.
On Jan. 26, a jury ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million to author E. Jean Carroll for defamation following she accused him in 2019 of sexually assaulting her at a Manhattan department store in the 1990s.
In 2022, the Trump Organization was convicted of tax fraud and fined $1.6 million.
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