Trump Ordered by Judge to Pay $355 Million, Barred From NY Business For 3 Years in Fraud Case

NEW YORK (New York Daily News/TNS) — Donald Trump was found liable Friday for intentionally committing large-scale business fraud alongside former top executives of his family real estate empire, personally hit with a $355 million penalty, and barred from heading any New York business for three years — a crushing ruling from Manhattan Judge Arthur Engoron and a huge blow to the former president’s decades-long legacy as a major league developer in his hometown.

In a blistering 92-page decision, Engoron found state Attorney General Tish James’ sweeping case against Trump, his sons, Eric and Don Jr., and former top Trump Organization executives Allen Weisselberg and Jeffrey McConney showed they broke multiple state laws by fraudulently ballooning Trump’s net worth by billions in business deals for years to obtain better terms. He found all of them civilly liable for falsifying business records and conspiring to do so, issuing false financial statements and conspiring to do so, and conspiring to commit insurance fraud.

Engoron additionally found ex-finance chief Weisselberg and former controller McConney liable for insurance fraud. He permanently barred both from handling the finances of any New York company, writing that “overwhelming” evidence showed they “cannot be entrusted with controlling the finances of any business.”

The judge also ruled that Eric and Don Jr. can’t head an Empire State corporation for two years, less than the five requested by James, among other remedies. Trump’s three-year ban from running a New York company was considerably less than the permanent ban from the real estate industry James had requested.

In another concession, the Manhattan Supreme Court justice walked back part of his pretrial decision finding Trump and his crew liable on the top claim, which ordered the cancellation of Trump-affiliated business licenses, writing that it was “no longer necessary” as the empire would be under the close supervision of two monitors, including one new one. The pretrial ruling determined yearly statements tallying Trump’s net worth were fraudulent; the claims Engoron considered during the trial centered on Trump and his execs’ intent and the methods they deployed.

In his ruling, Engoron described the attitudes of Trump and his execs as “pathological.”

“Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological. They are accused only of inflating asset values to make more money. The documents prove this over and over again. This is a venial sin, not a mortal sin. Defendants did not commit murder or arson. They did not rob a bank at gunpoint,” Engoron wrote.

“Donald Trump is not Bernard Madoff. Yet, defendants are incapable of admitting the error of their ways. Instead, they adopt a ‘See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ posture that the evidence belies.”

AG James described the outcome as a “tremendous victory for this state” in a statement.

“When powerful people cheat to get better loans, it comes at the expense of honest and hardworking people. Everyday Americans cannot lie to a bank to get a mortgage to buy a home, and if they did, our government would throw the book at them,” James said.

“Now, Donald Trump is finally facing accountability for his lying, cheating, and staggering fraud. Because no matter how big, rich, or powerful you think you are, no one is above the law.”

Alina Habba, Trump spokeswoman and Weisselberg’s attorney, vowed to appeal the “egregious” decision, describing it as the “culmination of a multi-year, politically fueled witch hunt” designed to take down Trump.

The former president echoed those sentiments in a blitz of Truth Social posts.

“The Highly Respected Expert Witness said my Financial Statements were among the best he has ever seen. I paid over $300 Million Dollars in taxes to New York City and State, and they want me gone,” Trump wrote. “They are Crazed Lunatics who are destroying everything in their way.”

Including interest, James estimated that Trump and all defendants owed $463.9 million as of Friday — with $453.5 million of the total owed by Trump personally — a figure that will grow larger by the day until it gets paid.

The judgment could see Trump forced to drain his accounts. In a deposition with the AG, he boasted about having more than $400 million in cash, “which is a lot for a developer.”

Engoron ordered Trump and a selection of his eponymous entities to pay back around $168 million of interest illegally gained by lying in business deals involving properties in New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Florida, nearly $127 million in profits from his sale of the Old Post Office in D.C., and $60 million he pocketed from a deal involving his Bronx golf course. Trump’s adult sons must each hand over around $4 million, representing their cut of the D.C. sale.

In a blow to Weisselberg, who served 99 days in jail in 2022 after his conviction along with the Trump Organization in a separate criminal tax fraud case, Engoron ordered the retired CFO to pay back half of his $2 million severance. The judge said the golden parachute he secured on his way into Rikers was negotiated to ensure he wouldn’t cooperate with anyone adversarial to Trump. He said he was “a critical player in nearly every instance of fraud” who shouldn’t profit from covering up misdeeds.

The devastating judgment comes in the midst of primary season, weeks after the GOP front-runner was ordered to pay writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million for defamation and as he fights 91 felony charges in four criminal matters.

The decision rounds off a years-long legal saga sparked by ex-Trump fixer Michael Cohen’s 2019 congressional testimony about his longtime boss’ penchant for exaggerating his wealth. During the monthslong trial, Engoron heard from 40 witnesses, including Cohen, the Trump sons and daughter Ivanka — and Trump himself, who lobbed insults at the judge, his staff and the attorney general. McConney cried when he took the stand, and the AG abruptly ended Weisselberg’s testimony, suspecting he was lying.

During the trial, Trump’s lawyers argued that bogus yearly statements tallying the value of assets like Mar-a-Lago and his Wall Street skyscraper were accidental and not under his purview, blaming the company’s outside accountants. They argued there were no real-world victims as Trump paid back the loans he obtained with fraudulent information and described the conduct as standard in the real estate biz.

Engoron rejected those arguments again Friday.

“Indeed, the common excuse that ‘everybody does it’ is all the more reason to strive for honesty and transparency and to be vigilant in enforcing the rules,” the judge wrote. “The next group of lenders to receive bogus statements might not be so lucky. New York means business in combating business fraud.”