Trump fined $355 million, banned from running businesses for 3 years in NY

A US judge ordered Donald Trump to pay nearly $355 million after finding him liable for fraud and banned him from running businesses in New York state for three years.

"The Court hereby enjoins Donald Trump... from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in New York for a period of three years," Judge Arthur Engoron wrote in his ruling on Friday, ordering Trump to pay the fine. Two of the ex-president's sons, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, were also fined $4 million each and blocked from acting as directors for two years.

"Political witch hunt"

Trump and his family deny any wrongdoing, with the former president calling the case a "fraud" and a "political witch hunt". Trump denounced the New York fraud trial as a "sham" in a statement issued on Friday following the verdict.

New York's attorney general had asked the judge to fine Trump for what she called "outrageous" schemes. The stiff penalty is being seen as a victory for Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, who sued Trump over what she said was not just harmless bragging but years of deceptive practices as he built the multinational collection of skyscrapers, golf courses, and other properties.

The judge has also ruled that the Trump Organisation must appoint an independent director of compliance and maintain its independent monitor for a minimum of three years.

Judge Engoron issued his decision after a 2½-month trial that saw the Republican presidential front-runner bristling under oath that he was the victim of a rigged legal system.

Trump’s lawyers had said even before the verdict that they would appeal.

A litany of cases

On Thursday, a judge confirmed Trump’s hush-money trial will start on March 25 and a judge in Atlanta heard arguments on whether to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from his Georgia election interference case because she had a personal relationship with a special prosecutor she hired.

Those criminal accusations haven’t appeared to undermine his march toward the Republican presidential nomination, but civil litigation has threatened him financially.

On January 26, a jury ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million to writer E. Jean Carroll for defaming her after she accused him in 2019 of assaulting her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s. That’s on top of the $5 million a jury awarded Carroll in a related trial last year.

In 2022, the Trump Organisation was convicted of tax fraud and fined $1.6 million in an unrelated criminal case for helping executives dodge taxes on extravagant perks such as Manhattan apartments and luxury cars.

New York Attorney General's office previously sued Trump for misusing his own charitable foundation to further his business interests. Trump was ordered to pay $2 million to an array of charities as a fine and the charity, the Trump Foundation, was shut down.

Trump incorporated the Trump Organisation in New York in 1981. He still owns it, but he put his assets into a revocable trust and gave up his positions as the company’s director, president and chairman when he became president, leaving management of the company to sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr.

Trump did not return to a stated leadership position upon leaving the White House in 2021, but his sons testified he’s been involved in some decision-making.

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Source: TRT