The New York state judge presiding over the civil fraud trial against Donald Trump brought down the hammer with an appropriately harsh $354,868,768 judgment for a decade’s worth of lies at the Trump Organization. The judgment is the latest blow against the former president and current Republican front-runner as his legal problems crescendo. That is because the steep financial penalty was combined with the court in effect banishing Trump from conducting business in New York for three years, as well as his sons Don Jr. and Eric Trump from doing so for two years. Both sons are also on the hook for over $4 million each. Engoron’s ruling was a staggering defeat for Trump, forcing him to relinquish the legal reins of his eponymous company, though it fell short of a complete victory for New York Attorney General Letitia James because Judge Arthur Engoron refused to apply the corporate death penalty. That is, he did not order the cancellation of the Trump businesses’ certificates of doing business. That imperfect outcome for James’ office, however, may be a blessing in disguise. It demonstrates Engoron’s careful analysis of the evidence and will help rebut attacks on his objectivity in both the appellate court and the court of public opinion.
Let’s review how we got here. In September 2022, following an extensive three-year investigation, James filed a complaint against Donald Trump, various companies known collectively as the Trump Organization, and five of its senior executives: his children Eric, Don Jr., and Ivanka, along with Allen Weisselberg and Jeffrey McConney. Ivanka was later dismissed as a defendant, but in September 2023, the court granted partial summary judgment finding that each of the five remaining individual defendants was responsible for persistent and repeated fraud at the Trump Organization through their preparation and certification of financial statements that indefensibly (and sometimes comically) overvalued company assets. The court set the case for trial against the five defendants on several unresolved issues. It also appointed an independent monitor to oversee the Trump Organization and canceled its business certificates and those of any other entity controlled or owned by the defendants—meaning those companies could no longer operate. An appellate court, however, delayed canceling the certificates pending the outcome of the trial. Taking the hint, Judge Engoron has now reversed himself.
Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement AdvertisementThe 44-day trial, which........