Former US President Donald Trump was fined nearly $355 million by a New York court on Friday for financial fraud in his real estate empire. He will also be banned from conducting any business in New York State for three years.
Published on: 02/16/2024 – 9:53 p.m. Modified on: 02/16/2024 – 10:00 p.m
3 mins
Donald Trump was fined nearly $355 million by a New York court on Friday, February 16, for financial fraud within his real estate empire, the Trump Organization. This unprecedented decision is a blow to the legacy of the former President of the United States, who is seeking re-election in November.
This comes with a three-year ban for the businessman and Republican tribune from conducting any business in New York State.
In a 92-page court document, New York State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron removed Donald Trump from directing “any corporation or legal entity in New York for a period of three years” and ordered him to pay $354.86 million U.S. dollar.
That state's attorney general, Letitia James, filed a complaint against him in October 2022 and took him, along with his two adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric Trump, and their family group, to a civil fraud lawsuit from October to January.
Trump's father and son appeared during this lengthy trial, often in an extremely tense political climate, and were accused of vastly inflating the value of the assets of their family empire, the Trump Organization.
The Republican nominee for November's presidential election condemned a “crooked judge” and a “totally corrupt” attorney general and again denounced “election interference” in a post on his Truth Social network.
Donald Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, criticized her “take down Donald Trump”. Mr Habba announced that his client would appeal this decision.
“Repeated scams”
Letitia James demanded compensation of $370 million from them because she had the value of her skyscrapers, luxury hotels and golf courses worldwide increased enormously in the 2010s in order to obtain cheaper loans from banks and better insurance conditions.
Certain assets, such as the Trump Tower on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, are symbolic of the success of the businessman who entered politics with his image as a successful developer.
Judge Engoron, with whom Donald Trump has terrible relations, had already ruled before the trial that fraud had been established.
The judge had estimated that the New York Attorney General's Office had presented “conclusive evidence that between 2014 and 2021 the defendants overstated the assets” of the group by “$812 million (to) $2.2 billion,” depending on the year.
Due to the “repeated fraud,” at the end of September the judge ordered the liquidation of the companies that manage these assets, such as the Trump Tower or the neo-Gothic skyscraper and the soon-to-be-century-old 40 Wall Street, whose lobby Donald Trump gave some of his press conferences after the court hearings. This decision was stayed on appeal.
The 77-year-old Republican magnate and tribune continued to rage against justice in the hands of President Joe Biden's Democrats, denouncing “a process worthy of a banana republic.”
His lawyers argued a case that they said was legally empty.
Unlike criminal trials this year — like the one scheduled for Thursday, March 25, over payments to silence a porn star — Donald Trump risked no prison time in this civil case.
With AFP