The figure that matters is $450 million. A New York judge has ordered Donald Trump and his co-defendants to pay more than that sum, closing out the state’s civil fraud case against the former president and the Trump Organization.
Justice Arthur F. Engoron of the New York State Supreme Court handed down the ruling on February 16, 2024, after an 11-week trial. Attorney General Letitia James, who filed the suit in September 2022 after a three-year investigation, declared victory. “Today, justice has been served,” she said, calling it a win for “everyone who believes that we all must play by the same rules.”
By the numbers, the award includes $363.8 million in disgorgement plus pre-judgment interest. The penalties went beyond money. Trump is barred for three years from holding any officer or director post at a New York company, and he and his companies cannot take loans from any New York bank for the same period.
His adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, are barred from running New York companies for two years. Allen Weisselberg and Jeffrey McConney, former executives, are banned from financial management roles for life. A new independent director of compliance will be created at the Trump Organization, and its external monitor will stay in place.
The case turned on property valuations. In September 2023, before trial, Engoron had already found that Trump and the defendants committed fraud by inflating asset values. At closing arguments a month earlier, Trump, 77, had railed against James from 40 Wall Street, a 71-story tower among the “jewels” of his real estate portfolio. The state alleged the company valued the skyscraper at $735.4 million in 2015, against a lender-ordered appraisal of $540 million.
Trump insisted his company had done nothing wrong and dismissed the case as politically motivated. The judge disagreed.
Sources
- Attorney General James Wins Landmark Victory in Case Against Donald Trump
- Trump bashes AG Letitia James’ ‘derangement syndrome’ from ‘jewel’ of his real estate company that he could lose in NY civil fraud trial
