The Judge presiding over Donald Trump‘s civil fraud trial fined him $354.8 million on Friday, 16 February 2024, and prohibited him from operating a company in New York for three years. 

The Court concluded that Trump had been involved in large-scale business fraud for almost ten years, having fabricated his net worth to secure favorable rates from Banks and Insurance Companies.

The decision, which is contained in a 92-page order, goes to the core of a Trump brand that he successfully exploited during his 2016 Presidential Campaign, his riches and commercial acumen. According to Judge Arthur Engoron Ii, Trump and the other defendants in the case displayed a “complete lack of contrition and remorse” that “borders on pathological.”

Tish James, the Attorney General of New York, filed the action, and the sentence ends a three-month trial. It happens shortly after a federal jury in a different case sentenced Trump to reimburse writer E. Jean Carroll for $83.3 million in damages for remarks he made during his presidency that were deemed defamatory in response to her allegation that he had raped her.

In addition, Trump now owes $443.1 million in judgments after being sentenced to pay Carroll $5 million in a separate trial last year. This puts him at the forefront of the Republican Presidential competition.

(In addition to vowing to fight the results of the more recent Carroll trial and the civil fraud trial, Trump is also contesting the earlier Carroll verdict.)

The Attorney General’s office estimates that the overall cost of the civil fraud case could exceed $450 million, including the interest that Engoron ordered Trump to pay. It is unclear if Trump has enough cash on hand to pay those fines without selling any assets. Along with the sanctions directed at Trump, Engoron also imposed regulations that might have a major impact on how the Trump Organization, the family firm, is run.

Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, the company’s two adult sons, were fined more than $4 million apiece by Engoron, who also prohibited them from managing businesses in New York for two years.

Additionally, he mandated that a court-appointed monitor stay on board to supervise the business for an additional three years and that the corporation get her consent before disclosing any financial information to outside parties. Additionally, former Trump Organization Executive Allen Weisselberg was penalized $1 million by Engoron.

On social media, Trump vented about the decision. Trump’s Attorney, Chris Kise, announced that his client intends to file an appeal, describing the ruling as a “tyrannical abuse of power.” Kise released a statement saying, “The Court today ignored the law, ignored the facts, and simply signed off on the Attorney General’s manifestly unjust political crusade against the front-runner for President of the United States.”

James hailed the decision as “a tremendous victory for this State, this country, and for everyone who believes that we all, including former President residents, must play by the same rules.”

The trial primarily focused on whether the false statements were used as a justification by banks like Deutsche Bank to give Trump preferential terms on loans that he wouldn’t have received if his net worth had been lower. Engoron found last fall in a pretrial ruling that Trump systematically inflated his assets on financial statements.

The verdict and the severity of the punishments were decided solely by Engoron because the trial was a bench trial, which meant there was no jury. James had requested a permanent injunction against Trump’s ability to do business in New York, along with a $370 million fine.

In a written ruling on Friday, 16 February 2024, Engoron criticized the responses of Trump and the other defendants to the charges in the lawsuit in addition to their acts. “Neither arson nor murder were committed by the defendants. They did not rob a bank with a pistol. Bernie Madoff is not Donald Trump.” However, the accused are unable to acknowledge their mistakes. Rather, they take on a posture that is contradicted by the evidence: “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.”

In James’ case, there were claims that Trump inflated several prominent properties, including his own Trump Tower triplex apartment, in his financial filings. In the trial, evidence was shown that the apartment’s true size was slightly less than 11,000 square feet, despite Trump’s financial accounts claiming otherwise. A 1994 contract signed by Trump that revealed the actual size of the property was presented by James’ Attorneys.

In addition, Engoron discovered that from 2011 to 2021, Trump’s financial records misrepresented the value of his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago by valuing it because it could be sold to a private buyer despite the property’s deed forbade such use. 

According to Engoron, “there is no legal ambiguity surrounding the deed restrictions’ permanent nature.” Trump’s main defense is that his financial statements had “very, very powerful” disclaimers and were not meant for use by banks or insurers. He has made this assertion repeatedly in public and during an irate and rambling turn on the witness stand.

Not only was it Trump’s first trial since leaving office, but it was also his first time testifying before a state court in Manhattan. Ivanka, Eric, and Donald Jr. Trump’s grown children all gave testimony.

Trump and his Attorneys frequently criticized the judge’s chief law clerk, portraying her as an unfit influence on the court and a biased opponent of the defense, which made the trial a boisterous event at times. 

Two gag orders were imposed by the judge in response to the criticisms, one of which forbade Trump from discussing the clerk and the other of which stopped his attorneys from doing the same. One of the messages on social media that Trump shared included a picture of the clerk.

After finding that Trump had broken the gag order twice, the judge fined him $15,000. When Engoron invited Trump to appear in connection with the second infraction, it was an unexpected turn of events that prompted the court to conclude that Trump was “not credible” as a witness.

Apart from his attention being directed towards the clerk, Trump also made repeated attacks on Engoron during the trial, both in public remarks on social media and in front of the judge. It’s a terrible thing you’ve done, Trump told Engoron during his testimony, calling one of his pretrial rulings “very stupid.” You don’t have any knowledge about me. 

The judge repeatedly told Trump to answer questions directly, but he consistently disregarded her orders and instead gave long, meandering answers that frequently resembled footage from Trump campaign events.

In his written ruling on Friday, Engoron stated that he was also unconvinced by Trump’s testimony regarding the case itself.

Overall, according to Engoron, “Donald Trump rarely answered the questions posed and frequently interjected long, irrelevant speeches on issues far beyond the scope of the trial.” “His credibility was seriously damaged by his unwillingness to respond to the questions directly or, in some cases, at all.”

Michael Cohen, the former fixer turned enemy of Trump, testified throughout the trial as well. He claimed that Weisselberg and he “reverse engineered” Trump’s wealth to satisfy their boss’s demands for exaggerated figures.

Even though Cohen was extensively questioned by Trump’s legal team over his plea deals for campaign finance violations and lying in federal cases, Engoron continued to give Cohen the benefit of the doubt. In what could be the greatest blow to Trump’s ego, aside from financial penalties, Engoron stated that he thought Cohen’s testimony was “credible.”

“A less-forgiving factfinder might have reached a different conclusion, might not have taken the word of a convicted perjurer at face value,” Engoron wrote. This factfinder does not think that admitting guilt to perjury precludes you from ever telling the truth. Michael Cohen was honest.

Despite Engoron’s attempts to contain the former President, Trump even made an unapproved closing statement at the trial’s conclusion, berating the court and accusing Engoron of having his “own agenda.”

But in his decision, Engoron had the last say and took advantage of the chance to ultimately restrain Trump.

“This Court is constrained in concluding that the defendants will continue to engage in this behavior unless judicially restrained due to their refusal to acknowledge error indeed, to continue it, as reported by the Independent Monitor,” Engoron said.

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