Judge orders Trump to pay millions in New York civil fraud case
(CBS NEWS) — The judge overseeing the civil fraud case against former President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization has issued his long-awaited ruling.
Judge Arthur Engoron handed down his judgment in a 92-page decision on Friday, ordering them to pay over $350 million in penalties.
Trump is expected to appeal.
The judge’s decision comes five weeks after the trial in the case concluded.
New York Attorney General Letitia James brought the civil suit in 2022, asked the judge to bar Trump from doing business in the state and sought a penalty of $250 million, a figure her office increased to $370 million by the end of the trial. Trump, the Trump Organization and several executives, including his two eldest sons, Donald Jr. and Eric Trump, were named as co-defendants in the suit.
Trump and his legal team long expected a defeat, with the former president decrying the case as “rigged” and a “sham” and his lawyers laying the groundwork for an appeal before the judgment was even issued.
Even before Friday’s ruling, the judge had largely affirmed James’ allegations that Trump and others at his company inflated valuations of his properties by hundreds of millions of dollars over the course of a decade, and misrepresented his wealth by billions. The scheme, the state said, was meant to trick banks and insurers into offering more favorable deal terms.
Engoron ruled in September that Trump and the other defendants were liable for fraud, based on the evidence presented through pretrial filings.
The trial, which began in October, focused on other aspects of the lawsuit related to alleged falsification of business records, issuing false financial statements, insurance fraud and conspiracy.
The financial penalty James sought, known as disgorgement, is meant to claw back the amount Trump and his company benefited from the scheme. (Under New York law, disgorgement cases are decided by a judge, not a jury.)
Ivanka Trump, the former president’s daughter and once an executive at the Trump Organization, was originally named as a defendant in the suit, but an appellate court later dismissed allegations against her, citing the state’s statute of limitations.
