A New York judge has handed Donald Trump a crushing defeat in his civil fraud case, finding him liable for conspiring to manipulate his net worth and ordering him to pay a penalty of nearly $355 million plus interest. Justice Arthur F. Engoron’s decision caps a chaotic, yearslong case in which New York’s attorney general put Trump’s fantastical claims of wealth on trial. With no jury, the power was in Justice Engoron’s hands alone, and he delivered a sweeping array of punishments that threaten the former president’s business empire as he simultaneously contends with four criminal prosecutions and seeks to regain the White House.
Justice Engoron barred Trump for three years from serving in top roles at any New York company, including portions of his own Trump Organisation. He also imposed a two-year ban on the former president’s adult sons and ordered them to pay more than $4 million each. One of them, Eric Trump, is the company’s de facto chief executive, and the ruling throws into doubt whether any member of the family can run the business in the near term. The judge also ordered that they pay substantial interest, pushing the penalty for the former president to $450 million.
Mr. Trump will appeal the financial penalty but will have to either come up with the money or secure a bond within 30 days. The ruling will not render him bankrupt, as most of his wealth is in real estate, which altogether is worth far more than the penalty. The New York Attorney General, Letitia James, has been granted a career-defining victory in the Trump fraud case. The court ruled that the former president had used his annual financial statements to defraud lenders, siding with the attorney general on her case’s central claim.
