Following are edited excerpts from
a current NPR report:A New York judge has ordered former President Donald Trump and executives at the Trump Organization to pay nearly $364 million in a civil fraud case, handing a win to New York Attorney General Letitia James, who sued Trump and his associates after a three-year investigation.
The Friday decision from Judge Arthur Engoron orders Trump and his flagship organization to pay the bulk of that amount: nearly $355 million. Trump's two sons and co-defendants, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., are each liable for $4 million. Allen Weisselberg, a former Trump Organization executive, is liable for $1 million. The total is even higher with interest — more than $450 million overall, according to the attorney general's office.
"Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological. They are accused only of inflating asset values to make more money. The documents prove this over and over again. This is a venial sin, not a mortal sin," Engoron wrote in the court filing. "Yet, defendants are incapable of admitting the error of their ways."
Additional consequencesThe judge also decided to limit Trump and his co-defendants' ability to do business in the Empire State. Trump and his companies are prohibited from serving as an officer or director of any New York business or applying for loans for three years. His sons are limited from similar leadership roles for two years.
Trump and his two older sons are accused of knowingly committing fraud by submitting financial statements that inflated the value of their properties and other assets. The lawsuit alleges that from 2011 to 2021, Donald Trump and his organization created more than 200 false valuations to inflate his net worth by billions of dollars with the goal of getting better business, insurance and banking deals.
Engoron had already determined that there was fraud and that the former president, his sons and other executives were liable.
Witnesses included former Trump allies such as Michael Cohen and Weisselberg, who was also a defendant.
Cohen testified that it was his responsibility, along with that of Weisselberg, "to reverse-engineer the very different asset classes, increase those assets in order to achieve the numbers" Trump had asked for.
Weisselberg, however, testified that he couldn't remember whether he discussed the financial statements with Trump as they were finalized.
The decision on Friday comes as Trump continues to campaign for the presidency. He will likely appeal this ruling, as he has in the other cases where he has suffered legal setbacks. It may take years before he parts with any money in the case.
Comments
Unless the case prevails in appellate court, he has to pay the judgment. Since this is a civil fraud case and not relate to campaign activities, he cannot use PAC or RNC fund to cover that. Otherwise, paying Trump’s judgments could jeopardize RNC’s nonprofit status.
Additionally, these funds are being used to pay lawyers in civil and criminal cases. Can he get rich donors to fork over $400 millions to his organization?
disneylandMaralago. Main attraction - classified government documents to read while sitting in the ”John”.Hey, why don't we make him our president ??? What a cool idea !!!
He hopes sales will be golden to defray recent judgements.
The Never Surrender High-Tops sell for a whopping $399 and are rather ostentatious.
They're too expensive, not my style, and regardless, I wouldn't want to support a career criminal!
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/18/trump-launches-gold-high-top-sneaker-line-a-day-after-350m-court-ruling