5 key takeaways from Trump’s civil fraud trial verdict after he’s asked to pay $355M in penalty

5 key takeaways from Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial verdict after he’s asked to pay $355M in penalty
Former president Donald Trump faced a massive legal setback in the New York civil fraud trial (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

5 key takeaways from Donald Trump's $355M New York civil fraud trial verdict

(Getty Images)
A New York  court penalized former president Donald Trump with a $355 million penalty in the civil fraud trial
(Getty Images)

Former president Donald Trump was hit with a whopping $355 million penalty in the New York civil fraud trial on Friday, February 15, 2024. After a months-long trial, Judge Arthur Engoron also barred the Republican frontrunner from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation for three years. The verdict gave a win to New York Attorney General Letitia James, who sued Trump in 2022 for massively inflating his property praises to secure favorable bank loans. Along with the former president, his sons and co-defendants, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, were also charged $4 million each. Let us explore five key takeaways from the bombshell verdict.

1. Biggest fines against Donald Trump so far

ROCHESTER, NY - SEPTEMBER 20:  New York State Attorney General Letitia James speaks at a news confer
New York State Attorney General Letitia James originally demanded a $370 million penalty from Donald Trump (Getty Images)

Judge Engoron has charged Donald Trump with the biggest penalty yet. The $355 million penalty for illegally inflating the price of his properties was a setback as the former president is closing in on the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election. However, it fell short of NY AG Letitia James' recommendation to charge the defendant with $370 million and a lifelong ban from the state's real estate industry. The ruling states that Trump and his companies owe $126 million for profits from the sale of the Old Post Office in Washington, DC, $60 million for profits from the sale of Ferry Point in the Bronx, and an additional $100 million in interest on those profits.

2. Judge backs off from dissolving Trump Organization

Justice Arthur Engoron  (Photo by Mike Segar-Pool/Getty Images)
Justice Arthur Engoron reversed his decision to dissolve the Trump Organization (Mike Segar-Pool/Getty Images)

Judge Engoron refrained from issuing a corporate death penalty against Donald Trump by completely dissolving the Trump Organization, which could have been much worse. Instead, the former president received only a three-year ban from working in any New York corporation. The judge went against his September 2023 decision to dissolve Trump's business certification in finding the ex-president and his co-defendants liable for consistent fraud. However, in the February 16 ruling, Engoron declared that the move was no longer necessary. "As going forward there will be two-tiered oversight, an Independent Monitor and an Independent Director of Compliance, of the major activities that could lead to fraud, cancellation of the business licenses is no longer necessary," the judge wrote, as per CNN.

3. Donald Trump's sons banned for two years

WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 27: Donald Trump Jr. (R) and Eric Trump look on as U.S. President Donald Tru
Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump are facing a two-year ban from serving as executives in New York (Getty Images)

The verdict prohibited Trump's eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, from serving as executives in New York for two years. His sons have been essentially running the Trump Organization since 2017 when Trump Sr entered the Oval Office. "They also served as co-executives running the company from January 2017 to today, in which they had intimate knowledge of the Trump Organization's business, assets, and were provided with financial updates upon request," Engoron wrote in the ruling, according to CNN. Both co-defendants are also penalized with $4 million individual fine in "ill-gotten" profits they received from 2022 sale of their father's hotel at the Old Post Office building in Washington DC.

4. Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen 'told the truth'

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 12: Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney and fix
The court found former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's testimony 'credible' (Getty Images)

Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, a key witness in the trial, was initially undermined due to credibility issues, but in the final ruling, Judge Engoron declared he believed in the witness. Despite some "seeming contradictions" in his statement during the trial, the court finally ruled his testimony "credible" based on the relaxed manner in which he testified. "A less-forgiving factfinder might have concluded differently, might not have believed a single word of a convicted perjurer," Engoron wrote. "This factfinder does not believe that pleading guilty to perjury means that you can never tell the truth. Michael Cohen told the truth," he added.

5. Donald Trump will appeal the NY civil fraud trial ruling

Former U.S. President Donald Trump sits at the defense table with his defense team in a Manhattan court on April 4, 2023 in New York City. Trump was arraigned during his first court appearance today following an indictment by a grand jury that heard evidence about money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. With the indictment, Trump becomes the first former U.S. president in history to be charged with a criminal offense.
Donald Trump is expected to appeal the New York civil fraud trial verdict, his lawyer said (Getty Images)

Trump attorney Christopher Kise, in a statement after the ruling, announced that Donald Trump will appeal Engoron's verdict and "remains confident the Appellate Division will ultimately correct the innumerable and catastrophic errors made." According to Kise, the court "ignored the law, ignored the facts." In multiple instances during the 11-week trial, Trump's lawyers consistently criticized Engoron's handling of the case. On the other hand, the judge had already acknowledged the possibility of an appeal.

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