Donald Trump was on Friday, in a court in New York, United States, imposed a fine exceeding $350 million, concurrently instituting a prohibition against his involvement in any commercial activities within the state for a duration of three years.
The verdict, issued by Judge Arthur Engoron, pertains to a civil lawsuit accusing Donald Trump and his enterprise of business fraud.
Judge Engoron mandated Trump and the Trump Organization to remit damages surpassing $350 million and forbade Trump from occupying any leadership position within any corporation or legal entity in New York for three years.
Additionally, the judge affirmed the continuation of an Independent Monitor’s role and mandated the establishment of an Independent Director of Compliance within the company.
This judgment marks the second against Trump this year, following a previous $83.3 million ruling in a defamation lawsuit filed by writer E. Jean Carroll last month.
As the November election nears and Trump’s presidential campaign intensifies, he faces the prospect of four criminal trials this year, with the initial trial set to commence on March 25th in a New York state court.
Letitia James, the New York Attorney General, had initially sought $370 million from Trump, his company, and its top executives, including his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, for engaging in sustained fraud that involved the falsification of business records and financial statements. James argued that these financial statements were sometimes inflated by as much as $2.2 billion.
According to James, these deceitful financial statements were used to obtain bank loans and insurance policies under terms Trump would otherwise not qualify for, leading to substantial illicit profits.
Despite these allegations, Trump has defended the accuracy of his financial statements, denouncing the Attorney General’s charges as politically driven and describing them as “a fraud on me.”
“This is a case that should have never been brought, and I think we should be entitled to damages,” Trump stated to the press after attending the case’s closing arguments on January 11.
Moreover, in October 2023, Trump was fined $10,000 for a second violation of a gag order related to the case, in addition to a $5,000 fine for failing to remove a post that criticized the judge’s law clerk.
Judge Engoron had previously restricted Trump, who is leading the race for the Republican nomination to oppose Democratic President Joe Biden in the 2024 U.S. election, from making derogatory remarks about court personnel.
The prolonged civil trial showcased testimonies from Trump and his eldest children, with Trump vehemently criticizing Attorney General James as a hack and describing the court as “extremely hostile.”
During the trial, the Attorney General’s office highlighted instances of alleged fraud, including Trump’s overvaluation of his Trump Tower triplex and the inclusion of a brand value to artificially inflate the worth of his golf courses in financial statements, despite these explicitly stating that brand values were not considered.