Trump Ordered to Pay $355 Million in New York Fraud Case

[aubiefifty 16,897]

 

rollingstone.com

 

Trump Ordered to Pay $355 Million in New York Fraud Case

Nikki McCann Ramirez, Asawin Suebsaeng

11–14 minutes

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Trump Ordered to Pay $355 Million in New York Fraud Case

The former president has also been barred from running a company in the state for three years

Donald Trump sits in New York State Supreme Court during the civil fraud trial against the Trump Organization, in New York City on Jan. 11, 2024. PETER FOLEY/POOL/AFP/Getty Images

Donald Trump has been ordered to pay $355 million in damages and barred the former president “from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in New York for a period of three years.”

Judge Arthur Engoron handed the ruling down on Friday in the wake of Trump and the Trump Organization being found liable for financial fraud. Engoron also ordered Trump’s adult sons, Don Jr. and Eric, to pay $4 million each

Trump is expected to appeal the ruling.

The scathing decision concludes a contentious, high-profile lawsuit that New York Attorney General Letitia James brought against Trump in September of 2022. James accused the former president, his adult children, and several of his associates, of committing widespread fraud through his real estate empire.

Engoron had already ruled last September that Trump was liable for fraud. The trial that followed was meant exclusively to determine the punishment — which turned out to be stiff.

Trump was not happy. In a Truth Social posting spree, the former president wrote that the “Justice System in New York State, and America as a whole, is under assault by partisan, deluded, biased Judges and Prosecutors.” He wrote in separate post. that James is “racist” and that the judgement is” illegal” and “unAmerican” and not fair to him, his family, or his “tremendous business.”

The ruling comes just weeks after a jury ordered Trump to pay E. Jean Carroll, whom he sexually assaulted in the ‘90s, over $83 million in defamation-related damages. Trump had already been ordered to pay Carroll $5 million last year, and the fine Engoron handed down on Friday means the frontrunner to land the Republican nomination for president now owes over $440 million in civil litigation penalties. The weight of all of this, on top of the financial costs of paying for lawyers handling Trump’s vast array of criminal prosecution and other matters, has led to exploding legal bills and a gigantic money drain in the middle of Trump’s campaign to retake the White House. 

Trump’s team is gearing up for a protracted conflict over Engoron’s judgment. In conversations with lawyers and other advisers in recent months, Trump has indicated he expects to be fighting for his business empire’s survival for quite a while, and maybe even into a potential second presidential term.

In these discussions, according to a person with knowledge of the matter and another source briefed on it, Trump has agreed that he should expect an appeals process in the New York civil fraud case to go on potentially for years. “He is aware this could take a … [while] to resolve,” says the source familiar with the situation. Trump, this person adds, “feels good about his chances” at appeal. Indeed, the heavily chaotic approach that Trump and his legal team brought to this trial since last year was built off of an internal assumption that defeat in this trial was a foregone conclusion, and that appealing was their only hope.

The fact that Trump and his lawyers are buckling in for possibly years of this — not to mention all the other cases piled up against Trump, including federal and criminal ones — reflects a broader sentiment that has consumed the former president since the deadly Jan. 6 riot. During the weeks immediately following the Capitol assault that Trump instigated, he began complaining to aides and other close associates that his enemies are going to be investigating and ”suing me for the rest of my life” after his presidency.

Trump, as it were, was likely on to something, given all of the legal and criminal exposure that he and his inner orbit have enjoyed in recent years.

Engoron penalized Trump for overvaluing his properties and inflating his net worth over several years, thus deceiving banks, investors, and insurers. In his September liability ruling, the judge agreed with New York prosecutors who argued that the former president had exaggerated the value of his assets by hundreds of millions — and even billions — of dollars, with the largest discrepancy being an over-valuation of more than $2.2 billion in 2014. The outsized valuations were then used by Trump and his organization to secure favorable loans and business deals from financial institutions and lenders. 

Regardless of whether the appeal process stretches on for years, Trump and his allies are hoping it at least does so into his second White House term — under their assumption of Trump beating Biden in the November election. The twice-impeached, repeatedly indicted former president and his MAGA policy braintrust has sprawling plans and blueprints ready to go for the start of a potential new administration, in which they’d enact massive programs aimed at revenge and score-settling. 

Late last year, according to a Trump adviser, the former president began asking people close to him if a future DOJ could explore ways to go after Engoron and the New York attorney general. Some of his counselors have told him that though it’s worth looking into, actually doing so would present its own unique hurdles and challenges for Justice Department lawyers. (For instance, New York has its own state agency that specializes in probing misconduct allegations against sitting judges.)

Trump has been attacking Engron and others involved in the case as much as he can in the meantime, continuously raging at the judge and prosecutors, accusing them of committing election interference by not simply letting him get away with fraud. He wrote on Truth Social last month that the “case should have been dismissed long ago. It is a Political Persecution. The State should get No Damages whatsoever!” 

The post was one in a long chain of harassment Trump has leveled against Engoron and his staff, both in and out of court. Over the course of the trial, Trump was fined twice, and threatened with jail time, for violating a narrowly tailored gag order put in place by Engoron after he attacked one of the judge’s clerks on social media. 

The clashes between Trump and Engoron came to a head in November when the former president took the witness stand and repeatedly attempted to rant at the court about his political grievances. At one point during Trump’s testimony, the judge threatened to have him removed from the witness stand if his lawyers couldn’t get him under control. “This is not a political rally,” Engoron told Trump’s attorneys. “I beseech you to control him if you can … if you can’t, I will. I will excuse him and draw every negative inference that I can.”

Trump seemed to relish in the judge’s attempts to maintain order in the court, regularly complaining to his followers and supporters about Engoron’s treatment of him. In November, the New York court system reported that Engoron and his clerk, Allison Greenfield, had received a “deluge [in] the court’s chambers phone and the law clerk’s personal cell phone, personal emails and social media accounts [of] hundreds of threatening, harassing, disparaging and antisemitic messages.” The court noted that it considers the threats “to be serious and credible and not hypothetical or speculative.” Hours before the trial’s closing arguments were scheduled to begin last month, the judge was the target of a swatting attempt at his home in Long Island.

Trump planned to personally deliver his closing argument, with Rolling Stone reporting that he spent days rehearsing his remarks. Trump never got the chance to deliver what would have surely been a rage-filled, vengeful screed against the court, however, with Engoron denying the former president after his legal team refused to agree to conditions that would restrict him from going off-topic or attacking individuals involved in the trial. 

Regardless of Engoron’s denial, the former president attempted to deliver his remarks without permission, calling the trial a “political witch hunt,” and demanding that he and his co-defendants “should receive damages for what we went through.”  

It seems Engoron was not swayed.

[aubiefifty 16,897]

once a crook always a crook.

[AuCivilEng1 11,015]

[I_M4_AU 7,961]

 

 

Edited February 17 by I_M4_AU

[auburnatl1 5,015]

If Trump would have just taken his father’s inheritance and thrown it into any basic mutual fund, he’d have more money than he does now. And thats before the $350m loss today.  

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2021/10/11/its-official-trump-would-be-richer-if-he-had-just-invested-his-inheritance-into-the-sp500/?sh=4b86b3ad1c48

 

[TexasTiger 13,005]

18 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said:

 

 

You and your buddy Will can add “arbitrarily” to the long list of words y’all don’t know.

[I_M4_AU 7,961]

6 minutes ago, TexasTiger said:

You and your buddy Will can add “arbitrarily” to the long list of words y’all don’t know.

You don’t think this one will be overturned on appeal?  No crime, no entity lost money and the judge is a wacko.  

[TexasTiger 13,005]

8 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said:

You don’t think this one will be overturned on appeal?  No crime, no entity lost money and the judge is a wacko.  

There is a crime and he was found guilty. But stay delusional. If it’s overturned on some grounds it won’t be because he didn’t engage a longterm practice of fraud- which is apparently what you like about him since you repeatedly defend it.

[I_M4_AU 7,961]

 

 

[I_M4_AU 7,961]

6 minutes ago, TexasTiger said:

There is a crime and he was found guilty. But stay delusional. If it’s overturned on some grounds it won’t be because he didn’t engage a longterm practice of fraud- which is apparently what you like about him since you repeatedly defend it.

Will the DA charge all the businesses doing the same crime in her jurisdiction?  I’m sure Trump wasn’t alone.

[I_M4_AU 7,961]

In a scathing rebuke of a New York Judge’s decision to fine Donald Trump a staggering $355 million, the entrepreneur and media personality Kevin O’Leary minced no words, denouncing the ruling as “unjust,” “appalling” and ultimately “un-American.”

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron’s Friday ruling not only slapped Trump with that hefty fine, but also with a temporary ban from conducting business in his native New York.

O’Leary, known for his role on “Shark Tank,” lambasted the decision, arguing that it sets a dangerous precedent for the entire real estate industry. 

O’Leary had previously been critical of the months-long fraud case in the media, saying on CNN recently that, “I don’t think this thing will ever survive appeal regardless of what the fine is. This doesn’t even make sense.”

“That fact that he was found guilty, you might as well find guilty every real estate developer on Earth,” O’Leary said in an exclusive interview with The Post.

https://nypost.com/2024/02/16/real-estate/kevin-oleary-slams-trump-civil-ruling-as-un-american/?utm_campaign=nypost&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

 

[DKW 86 7,440]

I see just one more bankruptcy coming down the road.

[TexasTiger 13,005]

11 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said:

In a scathing rebuke of a New York Judge’s decision to fine Donald Trump a staggering $355 million, the entrepreneur and media personality Kevin O’Leary minced no words, denouncing the ruling as “unjust,” “appalling” and ultimately “un-American.”

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron’s Friday ruling not only slapped Trump with that hefty fine, but also with a temporary ban from conducting business in his native New York.

O’Leary, known for his role on “Shark Tank,” lambasted the decision, arguing that it sets a dangerous precedent for the entire real estate industry. 

O’Leary had previously been critical of the months-long fraud case in the media, saying on CNN recently that, “I don’t think this thing will ever survive appeal regardless of what the fine is. This doesn’t even make sense.”

“That fact that he was found guilty, you might as well find guilty every real estate developer on Earth,” O’Leary said in an exclusive interview with The Post.

https://nypost.com/2024/02/16/real-estate/kevin-oleary-slams-trump-civil-ruling-as-un-american/?utm_campaign=nypost&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

 

Sounds like O’Leary’s probably sensitive about his own business practices.

[TexasTiger 13,005]

30 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said:

Will the DA charge all the businesses doing the same crime in her jurisdiction?  I’m sure Trump wasn’t alone.

Dunno. Long pattern of it here. 

[auburnatl1 5,015]

From judges to Swifties. I can’t keep up with sheer number of people, institutions, and girl bands out to get the poor guy.

https://around.uoregon.edu/content/study-disagreeable-people-more-prone-conspiracy-theories

[Gowebb11 9,362]

10 hours ago, I_M4_AU said:

You don’t think this one will be overturned on appeal?  No crime, no entity lost money and the judge is a wacko.  

Bankruptcies, adulteries, sexual assaults, defamation, mishandling classified documents, insurrections,  lies, etc. etc etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.  Is there ever going to be anything Trump is actually 100% guilty of and accountable for according to his MAGA cultists? Or is he simply the unfortunate soul who is always being unjustly accused and persecuted in one conspiracy after another? 

[I_M4_AU 7,961]

50 minutes ago, Gowebb11 said:

Bankruptcies, adulteries, sexual assaults, defamation, mishandling classified documents, insurrections,  lies, etc. etc etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.  Is there ever going to be anything Trump is actually 100% guilty of and accountable for according to his MAGA cultists? Or is he simply the unfortunate soul who is always being unjustly accused and persecuted in one conspiracy after another? 

Bankruptcies are part of the law and he has taken advantage of that no doubt.  No one has claimed he has been a saint when it come to his personal life.  Mishandling of classified documents should be handled like the Joe and Hillary cases have been, but…….  The not willingly handing them over is the only difference from Joe’s classified doc case and remember Hillary smashed phones, took out SIM cards and bleach bit her hard drive.  Just treat him the same.  Has he been charged with insurrection?  Lies?????  Who doesn’t lie?

The way the Democrats have been after this man from the day he was a serious contender in 2016 until the weaponized DOJ of today, you better find him guilty in a court of law.  The Democrats should not have to demonize him to beat him, it should be a simple task.  You do have to ask yourself; why are they doing this?  Is it a vendetta?  Are they afraid of him?

Now that Joe is in the state of mind that he is, these court trials are even more important to them.  The only victories the Dems have is in civil trials, in NYC, which is not a convincing argument for their case.  The Georgia case isn’t looking like it will go to trial before he election, niethger does the document trial.  The Stormy Daniels case in not one even being in NYC can win and the Jan 6th case is hung up in the SCOTUS to see if he has immunity.  He won’t win that, but it could delay the trial until after the election.  Hint: after the election this stuff all goes away. IMO

If Trump wins in November it will be interesting to see if there is the same *peaceful transition of power* we had in 2017.  We are in a mess that could have been avoided if both sides would have stepped back and realized these two guys are not what we need to take America forward.

[aubiefifty 16,897]

I am selling boxes of tissues with snowflake prints on the cheap. hit me up.................

[TexasTiger 13,005]

3 hours ago, Gowebb11 said:

Bankruptcies, adulteries, sexual assaults, defamation, mishandling classified documents, insurrections,  lies, etc. etc etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.  Is there ever going to be anything Trump is actually 100% guilty of and accountable for according to his MAGA cultists? Or is he simply the unfortunate soul who is always being unjustly accused and persecuted in one conspiracy after another? 

Gotta love the MAGA cultists who claim not to like the man but vigorously defend his wrongdoing.

[I_M4_AU 7,961]

1 hour ago, TexasTiger said:

Gotta love the MAGA cultists who claim not to like the man but vigorously defend his wrongdoing.

Prove the wrong doing is all we ask.  Yet to be done on a criminal bases.  Still waiting after all this time.

[Gowebb11 9,362]

45 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said:

Prove the wrong doing is all we ask.  Yet to be done on a criminal bases.  Still waiting after all this time.

Court adjudications be they criminal or civil is proof. But it’s written off as “witch hunt”. Everywhere he goes and everything he touches gets soured by his horrible human nature. He lost me when he declared it’s okay to grab women by the p***** but that was written off as locker room banter. And when he shook and trembled on stage mocking a handicapped man. What kind of a human does that? And when he ridiculed John McCain’s unsurpassed sacrifice and service. (He of course had bunions on his feet and couldn’t serve) I could keep going. Every one of those things reflects complete lack of character and humanity. But every one of them is explained away by his followers. The “yeah but Biden did/said” rationale wil never work on me. I don’t judge people by politics or party. I judge them by their life’s work and character. And DJT’s has been a disaster. 

[AUDub 11,179]

16 hours ago, I_M4_AU said:

 

 

Holy s*** if that’s your spin your even more far gone than I thought lol. 

[DKW 86 7,440]

2 hours ago, TexasTiger said:

Gotta love the MAGA cultists who claim not to like the man but vigorously defend his wrongdoing.

 

1 hour ago, I_M4_AU said:

Prove the wrong doing is all we ask.  Yet to be done on a criminal bases.  Still waiting after all this time.

He is openly guilty of fraud, being a lousy husband, a blowhard, an a**hole. 

For all the howler-monkey wailing, I have yet to see him actually convicted of anything.

But then again, I know OJ is guilty.
I know Epstein and his friends are guilty. 
I know Menedez is guilty.
I know you don't pay a crackhead $10Ms for nothing. 

[I_M4_AU 7,961]

13 minutes ago, Gowebb11 said:

Court adjudications be they criminal or civil is proof. But it’s written off as “witch hunt”. Everywhere he goes and everything he touches gets soured by his horrible human nature. He lost me when he declared it’s okay to grab women by the p***** but that was written off as locker room banter. And when he shook and trembled on stage mocking a handicapped man. What kind of a human does that? And when he ridiculed John McCain’s unsurpassed sacrifice and service. (He of course had bunions on his feet and couldn’t serve) I could keep going. Every one of those things reflects complete lack of character and humanity. But every one of them is explained away by his followers. The “yeah but Biden did/said” rationale wil never work on me. I don’t judge people by politics or party. I judge them by their life’s work and character. And DJT’s has been a disaster. 

I’m not here to change your mind about Trump, his personality is abrasive to say the least, to me he is the best of the two candidates regardless of how he acted after the 2020 election.  Biden has shown he doesn’t know what he is doing and I would rather have a President that is responsible for his actions and not given a pass because he is a sympathetic person.

To the adjucdications; OJ, by the criminal courts, is not a murderer, however, by the civil courts he is.  Which one would have resulted in jail time?

[I_M4_AU 7,961]

6 minutes ago, AUDub said:

Holy s*** if that’s your spin your even more far gone than I thought lol. 

I didn’t write the X message, I just thought it was interesting.  You can believe anything you want.