Former President Donald Trump has been ordered by a New York judge in his civil fraud trial to pay nearly $364 million in damages for exaggerating the valuation of his real estate holdings in order to get favorable lending terms between 2011 and 2021.
Judge Arthur Engoron also barred the Trump from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation for three years. Two of the former president’s sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, were each found liable for $4 million and Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, was found liable for $1 million.
“In order to borrow more and at lower rates, defendants submitted blatantly false financial data to the accountants, resulting in fraudulent financial statements,” said Engoron in his 92-page ruling. “When confronted at trial with the statements, defendants’ fact and expert witnesses simply denied reality, and defendants failed to accept responsibility or to impose internal controls to prevent future recurrences.”
Prior to the trial Engoron ruled that New York Attorney General Letitia James proved there was fraud in Trump’s financial statements and ordered some of Trump’s companies removed from his control and dissolved. An appeals court later put that Engoron’s decision on hold.
Trump had been critical of Engoron before and during the trial and his lawyers had they would work for an appeal before the verdict was announced.
