Former United States President Donald Trump must pay $354.9 million in fines for fraudulently exaggerating his net worth to deceive lenders, a New York judge ruled this Friday, in another legal setback for the Republican in a civil case that puts his real estate empire in danger.
Judge Arthur Engoron also banned Trump from acting as an officer or director of any New York corporation for three years.
Engoron reversed its previous ruling from September ordering the “dissolution” of companies that control the pillars of Trump’s real estate empire, saying Friday that this was no longer necessary because it is appointing an independent monitor and chief compliance officer to oversee the tycoon’s businesses. .
Trump’s lawyers vowed to appeal the ruling. Lawyer Alina Habba called the verdict “manifest injustice” and “culmination of a multi-year, politically fueled witch hunt.” She and Christopher Kise, another of Trump’s lawyers, said the verdict, if upheld, would harm the business climate in New York City.
Judge Arthur Engoron issued his decision after a two-and-a-half-month trial in which the Republican presidential candidate complained under oath of being a victim of a rigged judicial system.
Engoron concluded that Trump and his co-defendants “did not accept responsibility” for their actions and that experts who testified for the defense “simply denied reality.”
The severe sentence was a victory for New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, who sued Trump for what she said were not just harmless bluster but years of deceptive practices as he amassed the multinational collection of skyscrapers, fields golf and other properties that catapulted him to wealth, fame and the White House.
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