Former American President Donald Trump must pay approximately 355 million dollars (approximately 329 million euros) as punishment for fraud that his real estate company committed for years by overstating the value of his assets in order to deceive business partners such as banks. A judge in New York decided this on Friday after a high-profile civil fraud trial.
Judge Arthur Engoron of the New York State Supreme Court also ruled that Trump, the frontrunner in the race for the Republican nomination for the presidential elections in November, cannot work as an officer or director of a company in New York State for three years. where his private company, the Trump Organization, is based. His adult sons Don Jr. and Eric, who were also charged, are banned for two years.
The real estate company, which includes interests in several major properties in Manhattan, including the Trump Tower on New York’s Fifth Avenue, must remain under the supervision of an independent administrator appointed in 2022, former federal judge Barbara S. Jones, for at least another three years – a serious blow to the family business of the ex-president, who made a name for himself as a real estate magnate in New York before entering politics. However, the group does not have to be dissolved, as the judge initially ordered.
‘Staffing’ fraud
The ruling is a victory for Letitia James, New York’s chief prosecutor. She filed the civil lawsuit in 2022 on charges of “staggering” fraud by Trump and his company, after a lengthy investigation into the group’s financial practices. That investigation, which began after Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen testified to Congress in 2019, found that asset values were consistently overstated to obtain loans at favorable rates from banks.
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Precious month
Trump, who has strongly denied the charges, has dismissed the case as a “witch hunt” by his political opponents to hamper his campaign to become president again. He points out that there are no victims: the banks voluntarily did business with him and made money from it. On his social network Truth Social, he called the verdict in advance on Wednesday “unfair” and spoke of “a dark and sad day for the justice system in New York State.” He will appeal against the ruling.
The presidential candidate has had a costly month as a result of his civil legal troubles: in combination with the damages for Carroll, the damage amounts to more than 438 million dollars. Although that could change on appeal, he will likely have to hand over the amounts as surety within 30 days of each of the two verdicts. It is unclear whether Trump, whose fortune is estimated by American media at $2.6 to $3.1 billion, has that money.
Engoron’s ruling follows an intensive legal week for Trump, who also faces four criminal cases on charges of crimes he allegedly committed before, during and after his term of office. On Thursday, another judge in New York ruled that the trial against the former president regarding hush money he allegedly paid to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016 will start on March 25. That date was already penciled in on the agenda.
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This makes the trial of the New York State case, in which Trump has been charged with forgery, the first of the four criminal cases in which the former president will be in the dock. A federal case involving Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and his role in the storming of the Capitol by his supporters on January 6, 2021, previously scheduled for early March, was postponed indefinitely early this month. The cause of that delay is a procedure on the question of whether Trump enjoyed immunity as president and therefore cannot be prosecuted, as Trump and his lawyers argue. A Washington appeals court rejected that; Trump then went to the US Supreme Court. It must decide soon whether it will accept an appeal against that ruling, and within what period.
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