A New York judge delivered a significant defeat in court Friday for Donald Trump, finding the former president liable in a civil fraud trial.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Judge Arthur Engoron imposed a $364 million penalty for what he ruled was a yearslong scheme to dupe banks and others with financial statements that inflated the former president\u2019s wealth.<\/p>\n
The ruling came after a 2\u00bd-month trial. Engoron concluded that Trump and his co-defendants \u201cfailed to accept responsibility\u201d for their actions and that expert witnesses who testified for the defense \u201csimply denied reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
The judge called the civil fraud at the heart of the trial a \u201cvenial sin, not a mortal sin.\u201d But Engoron said the refusal by Trump and his associates to admit wrongdoing suggested they would continue if not constrained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological,\u201d added Engoron, a Democrat.<\/p>\n
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The former president is also barred from doing business in New York for three years.<\/p>\n
However, the judge backed away from an earlier ruling that would have dissolved the former president\u2019s companies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trump attorney Alina Habba called the verdict \u201cmanifest injustice” and \u201cthe culmination of a multi-year, politically fueled witch hunt.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s lawyers had said even before the verdict that they would appeal.<\/p>\n
New York Attorney General Letitia James, also a Democrat, sued the Republican presidential frontrunner in 2022 under a state law that authorizes her to investigate persistent fraud in business dealings.<\/p>\n
The suit accused Trump and his co-defendants of routinely puffing up his financial statements to create an illusion his properties were more valuable than they really were. State lawyers said Trump exaggerated his wealth by as much as $3.6 billion one year.<\/p>\n
State lawyers argued that, by making himself seem richer, Trump qualified for better loan terms, saved on interest, and was able to complete projects he might otherwise not have finished.<\/p>\n
Even before the trial began, Engoron ruled that James had proven Trump\u2019s financial statements were fraudulent. The judge ordered some of Trump\u2019s companies removed from his control and dissolved. An appeals court put that decision on hold.
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Trump and his lawyers have said the outside accountants who helped prepare the statements should\u2019ve flagged any discrepancies and that the documents came with disclaimers that shielded him from liability. They also argued that some of the allegations were barred by the statute of limitations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no victim. There was no anything,\u201d Trump testified in November.<\/p>\n
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