Manhattan judge Arthur Engoron ordered Donald Trump and his companies to pay $355 million in penalties in a Friday ruling in the former president’s civil fraud trial, and placed severe restrictions on the real-estate mogul’s ability to do business in New York.
Trump’s adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, each must pay $4 million after Engoron found them liable for multiple fraud counts, including issuing false financial statements, falsifying business records, and conspiracy. Additionally, former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg is being held liable for $1 million. Overall, a $364 million penalty fine was issued to all defendants Friday afternoon.
As part of the ruling, Trump Organization is banned from taking loans in New York for the next three years. In that same period, Trump himself is banned from “serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in New York,” the 92-page order states.
The decision, which was made without a jury, ends a years-long case in which New York attorney general Letitia James alleged Trump manipulated his net worth and inflated the value of his properties in order to receive lower interest rates. The ordered fine fell short of James’s requested amount of $370 million in damages.
In the ruling, Engoron wrote that Trump and his co-defendants knowingly “submitted blatantly false financial data to the accountants, resulting in fraudulent financial statements.”
“When confronted at trial with the statements, defendants’ fact and expert witnesses simply denied reality, and defendants failed to accept responsibility or to impose internal controls to prevent future recurrences,” he wrote.
“As detailed herein, this Court now finds defendants liable, continues the appointment of an Independent Monitor, orders the installation of an Independent Director of Compliance, and limits defendants’ right to conduct business in New York for a few years,” the judge added.
Weisselberg and former Trump Organization executive Jeffrey McConney — both of whom were found liable for issuing false financial statements, falsifying business records, insurance fraud, and conspiracy — are permanently banned from serving in the financial control function of any corporation or business based in New York. Both are also prohibited from being an officer or director of any New York corporation for the next three years.
Trump attorney Alina Habba called Engoron’s decision a “manifest injustice” and said the former president plans to appeal the ruling.
“It is the culmination of a multi-year, politically fueled witch hunt that was designed to ‘take down Donald Trump,’ before Letitia James ever stepped foot into the Attorney General’s office,” Habba added. “If this decision stands, it will serve as a signal to every single American that New York is no longer open for business.”
On Monday, Representative Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) demanded that James be disbarred or suspended over the “clear bias” demonstrated in her handling of Trump’s civil fraud trial. In the official bar complaint, Stefanik cited comments that James made regarding Trump before assuming office as attorney general in 2019. During her 2018 election night victory speech, James vowed to shine a “bright light into every dark corner of his real estate dealings.”
In September 2022, James filed a lawsuit against Trump and his business empire for using fraudulent financial statements to obtain millions more in economic benefits. The trial lasted for three months from October 2, 2023 to January 11, 2024.