Former President Donald Trump has been hit with his most expensive legal payment to date after the judge in his New York City fraud case ordered him to pay $355 million in damages in a ruling on Friday.
Along with the payment, Judge Arthur Engoron has barred Trump from doing business in the state for three years. New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought on the lawsuit, initially asked that Trump be permanently banned from doing business in New York.
Trump's two adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, were each issued a two-year business ban and $4 million in penalties.
Engoron remarked on Trump’s lack of ethics in regard to doing business, according to NBC News. “Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological. They are accused only of inflating asset values to make more money. The documents prove this over and over again. This is a venial sin, not a mortal sin. Defendants did not commit murder or arson. They did not rob a bank at gunpoint. Donald Trump is not Bernard Madoff. Yet, defendants are incapable of admitting the error of their ways.”
The former president and 2024 Republican presidential nominee posted to Truth Social following the ruling, accusing Engoron and James of being “crooked” and “corrupt.” He said the fine was “based on nothing other than having built a great company.” He also called the decision “election interference,” and a “witch hunt.”
Although the judge did not dissolve Trump’s business altogether, Engoron determined that Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, and Jeffrey McConney, the former controller, were responsible for numerous civil fraud charges in the state, with charges including producing fraudulent financial statements, tampering with business records and committing insurance fraud.
“Engoron issued a blistering 93-page opinion that painted the former president as unremorseful and highly likely to commit fraud again,” per CNN. “This court finds that defendants are likely to continue their fraudulent ways unless the court grants significant injunctive relief,” Engoron wrote.
Trump is expected to appeal the business restrictions and financial penalties against him, but he only has 30 days to either make the payment or secure a bond.
“This verdict is a manifest injustice — plain and simple,” Alina Habba, one of Trump’s lawyers, said, according to The New York Times. “Given the grave stakes, we trust that the Appellate Division will overturn this egregious verdict,” Habba added.