Justice Arthur Engoron’s ruling is not fatal for Trump’s business empire, but it might be a near-death experience.
A New York judge fined Donald Trump $355 million today, finding “overwhelming evidence” that he and his lieutenants at the Trump Organization made false statements “with the intent to defraud.”
Justice Arthur Engoron’s ruling in the civil fraud case is not fatal for Trump’s business empire, but it might be a near-death experience. The fine fell just short of the $370 million that New York Attorney General Letitia James sought. Engoron also declined to cancel the Trump Organization’s licenses to practice, as he had suggested he might last year. But he barred Trump from serving as an officer of any New York company for three years, and his sons for two. Engoron also ruled that a court-appointed monitor would continue to oversee the company for at least three years.
David A. Graham: It’s just fraud all the way down
“This Court finds that defendants are likely to continue their fraudulent ways unless the Court grants significant injunctive relief,” Engoron wrote. Elsewhere he observed, “Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological.”
The fine is huge—or yuge, perhaps—even by Trump’s billionaire standards. The decision will not bankrupt him, but by some estimates it might wipe out much of his cash holdings. The bans will complicate the management of the Trump Organization, and the continued presence of the monitor, already the cause of great frustration for Trump, will chafe more. (Engoron had already ruled in September that Trump committed fraud; the question at trial was what punishment he would face.)
This is also the first time a former president of the United States, or likely nominee for the presidency in a major party, has been found by a court to have committed extensive fraud and fined hundreds of millions of dollars.
David A. Graham: Donald Trump is a defense attorney’s nightmare
In politics and business, Trump has always started with the premise that rules are for suckers. He does whatever helps him until someone stops him. His first national media appearance came, infamously, when the Trump Organization was sued for allegedly barring Black tenants on the basis of race; he managed to settle that case with only a consent decree and no admission of guilt. Documents obtained by The New York Times found that Trump for years used potentially illegal tax maneuvers—but was never caught. When he occasionally did get in trouble for breaking the rules, he was usually able to get off with a punishment smaller than the advantage he’d gained. It was just the price of doing business.
Politics provided another stage to use similar tricks. The Trump administration often cut corners and broke laws, betting that courts would be slow to act and that Congress would fail to punish it. That was a good bet. He was twice impeached, but never convicted. It was the price of doing politics.
The fraud trial provided a good illustration of Trump’s tricks. The attorney general showed how Trump inflated and deflated property valuations at will, in order to obtain more favorable loans or to cut his tax bill. When finally confronted by prosecutors after years of this, Trump argued that he’d done nothing wrong because banks didn’t lose any money. (As Engoron noted, this is irrelevant to whether Trump committed fraud.)
David A. Graham: ‘Control your client’
With today’s ruling, as well as nearly $90 million in judgments for the writer E. Jean Carroll, whom Trump sexually abused and defamed, some signs have emerged that Trump’s modus operandi could be catching up with him. A petulant, angry appearance in closing arguments in this case might have been tactically foolish, but it was also a heartfelt demonstration of Trump’s fury that he was on the verge of serious punishment for things he’d been doing for decades.
Trump still must confront several criminal cases. In Manhattan, a trial on separate falsification of business records charges is scheduled to start next month. Federal prosecutors have indicted him in connection with hoarding of classified documents. He faces charges in federal court and in Georgia state court in connection with his attempts to subvert the 2020 election.
David A. Graham: The cases against Donald Trump—a guide
Trump is still working to bog these cases down, and he apparently hopes to stifle the federal cases by being elected president and ordering them closed. He might be successful. He is also expected to appeal today’s ruling in New York. Yet the $355 million bill shows that Trump’s bad habits can catch up to him, too. Just as in the past, he can pay the fine, but this one is larger and more painful. The cost of doing business has gotten a lot higher.
Donald Trump’s ‘Fraudulent Ways’ Cost Him $355 Million
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Justice Arthur Engoron’s ruling is not fatal for Trump’s business empire, but it might be a near-death experience.
A New York judge fined Donald Trump $355 million today, finding “overwhelming evidence” that he and his lieutenants at the Trump Organization made false statements “with the intent to defraud.”
Justice Arthur Engoron’s ruling in the civil fraud case is not fatal for Trump’s business empire, but it might be a near-death experience. The fine fell just short of the $370 million that New York Attorney General Letitia James sought. Engoron also declined to cancel the Trump Organization’s licenses to practice, as he had suggested he might last year. But he barred Trump from serving as an officer of any New York company for three years, and his sons for two. Engoron also ruled that a court-appointed monitor would continue to oversee the company for at least three years.
David A. Graham: It’s just fraud all the way down
“This Court finds that defendants are likely to continue their fraudulent ways unless the Court grants significant injunctive relief,” Engoron wrote. Elsewhere he observed, “Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on........
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