A New York judge ordered Donald Trump and his family business to pay more than
$350 million in penalties for fraudulently inflating his wealth for
financial gain.
If upheld,
the ruling could force Trump to forfeit a sizable chunk of his money and lead to a
reshuffling of the Trump organization which is run by his sons,
Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.
It's a ridiculous,
a fine of $355 million for doing a job.
We asked Mark Zauderer,
a veteran New York trial and appellate lawyer to break down the judge's decision and what
it means for Trump's business empire.
I think it's fair to say that the attorney general has accomplished her stated
goal of uh bringing uh into account the Trump organization as
she saw it because the court has essentially agreed with her.
I'd say 100%.
He's talking about the New York Attorney General,
Letitia James who brought the lawsuit against Trump and his adult Children.
In 2022 James,
a democrat and vocal critic of Trump accused the former president of engaging in a
decade long scheme to fraudulently and falsely value his assets to acquire
loans at bargain rates.
Donald Trump may have authored the art of the deal,
but he perfected the art of the steal.
We're dealing with an unusual statute that gives the attorney general extraordinary
power in the regulation of the public markets that a private
litigant bringing a lawsuit,
for example,
for fraud would not have such an advantage for.
In round one,
the judge found that Trump had benefited in effect,
had gotten the ill gotten gains from his frauds.
And what happened in phase two here,
the trial judge consistent with what he outlined in the first decision made specific
findings on how much those ill gotten gains were.
The judge tempered his remarks and observations to a certain extent,
you know,
making reference to Bernie Madoff,
for example,
whom he posited as a distinction between Madoff's behavior and what he
found here in this case,
which he said,
look,
it's not murder.
In his view,
the remedies that he imposed were something.
Uh if you connect the dots,
something short of what he might have imposed had the,
had the matters that he found were proper been even more serious.
Justice,
Arthur Engeron concluded that Trump,
his eldest sons and two former top finance executives were liable for
falsifying records,
issuing false documents and other related conspiracy offenses.
The judge ordered Trump to pay $355 million just shy of the
370 million James requested.
He also barred Trump from holding a position as an officer or director of a New York
company for three years.
The most recent decision is not totally surprising except in one respect.
He said in the first decision that it was going to dissolve the company in New
York pull its certificates,
which would be basically the death knell for the company.
He did not do so in this most recent decision,
one of the things that the judge noted in a footnote to his decision was a
reason why he was pulling back on the cancellation of business
certificates is what he characterizes,
potential economic harm could come from that remedy.
Instead,
he imposed a series of controls on the company to ensure that the
continuation of the business would be closely monitored.
The judge extended the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee the Trump organization for at
least three years.
That monitor will be involved day to day in making the business
decisions of the organization and virtually nothing will be done by the
organization without the approval of that day to day on the ground.
Financial monitor in the organization,
Trump and the Trump organization were also banned from applying for loans from any financial
institution registered or chartered in New York State for three years.
It's not just the dollars that have to be uh reimbursed that
are significant for the Trump organization.
They're going to likely have difficulty obtaining financing people who do
business with them may be uncertain for both financial reasons and
even reputational reasons.
Trump,
the current Republican front runner in the 2024 presidential election has denounced the
case as a partisan abuse of the justice system.
Uh will appeal will be successful,
I think because frankly,
if we're not successful,
New York State has got everything that the judge imposed may go forward or some of it
may go forward and not other parts of it.
You know,
for example,
uh the monitor the court may allow to continue.
Uh but on the other hand,
stay enforcement of the money part because Trump posts a bond in terms
of what we expect in the months or year to come.
It's very unlikely that the appeals will be finished.
In this case,
the Trump organization has a significant period of time to take an appeal.
The appeals that have to be briefed that takes time briefs in support briefs in
opposition.
So the likelihood that this will be finally resolved before the November
2024 election is quite small.