Former President of the United States Donald Trump A New York judge ordered him to pay $355 million in court for inflating the value of his assets.
The ruling also barred the Republican from conducting business for three years, a major blow to his real estate empire.
“The Court hereby prohibits Donald Trump from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or any other legal entity in New York for a period of three years,” Judge Arthur Engoron wrote in his ruling.
With his ruling, Engoron ordered Trump, his children and the family business, the conglomerate Trump Organization, to pay 354 million 868 thousand 768 dollars (six thousand 51 million 967 thousand 456 Mexican pesos at the current exchange rate).
Trump and his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric faced a lengthy civil trial from October to January alleging they inflated the value of the Trump Organization’s assets.
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According to the indictment, the family inflated the value of the estate in order to obtain more financing from insurers and better loans.
His complete lack of remorse and remorse borders on the pathological. They are simply accused of inflating the value of assets in order to make more money,” Judge Engoron said in his ruling.
The defendants cannot admit their mistake. “Instead, they adopt a see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, and speak-no-evil attitude that is refuted by the evidence,” he added.
In response, the tycoon vowed from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to appeal the judge’s decision, an action his defense attorney Alina Habba had already suggested.
We will appeal,” Trump said, accusing President Joe Biden of moving forward with impeachment.
Previously, on his network Truth Social, the former president accused Judge Engoron of being “crooked” and the attorney general of being “totally corrupt.”
He also described the ruling as “election interference and a witch hunt” as he emerges as the favorite to win the Republican nomination in the presidential election.
For her part, Alina Habba described the verdict as “obvious injustice.”
“We trust the Court of Appeal will overturn this cruel verdict and put an end to this relentless persecution,” he said.
The Republican’s two sons were also each sentenced to four million dollars.
“HUGE VICTORY”
New York Attorney General Letitia James welcomed the ruling.
“It is a major victory for those who believe that we are all obliged to act by the same rules, including former presidents,” he said.
“No matter how big, rich or powerful you think you are, no one is above the law,” he said.
James filed this civil lawsuit in 2022, alleging financial fraud against members of the Trump family for inflating the value of his real estate empire, a conglomerate of companies that included skyscrapers, luxury hotels and golf courses around the world, in the decade of 2010.
Some assets, such as the Trump Tower on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, are emblematic of the success of the businessman, who entered politics thanks to his image as a successful real estate developer.
Before the trial, Judge Engoron, who had even threatened to exclude the tycoon from the hearings during the trial, ruled that fraud had been committed.
The judge found that Attorney General James, an elected Democrat, had presented conclusive evidence that the defendants overstated the group’s assets between 2014 and 2021.
According to the investigation, the value was $812 million and was inflated to $2.2 billion.
The Republican reiterated during the trial that it was a trial “worthy of a banana republic.”
In the coming months, he will have to sit on the bench and answer 91 criminal charges in Washington, Florida and Georgia, as well as in Manhattan, where another trial is scheduled to begin on March 25.
This is the first criminal prosecution of a former US president who paid money to a porn actress to buy her silence during the 2016 election campaign.
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