Updated 22.20 | Published 22.10
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NEW YORK. Donald Trump is sentenced to multi-billion fines and a three-year business ban in New York.
The sentence is a heavy blow to his real estate empire and image as a successful businessman.
“This is the culmination of a multi-year, politically motivated witch hunt,” says Trump’s lawyer.
Former president Donald Trump is sentenced to pay 355 million dollars – the equivalent of 3.8 billion Swedish kroner – in fines and is banned from business in his hometown of New York for three years.
He also cannot apply for a loan in the state.
Judge Engoron released the 93-page order in the civil fraud case late Friday, finding Trump liable for fraud, conspiracy, issuing false financial statements, and falsifying corporate documents.
“This court finds that defendants are likely to continue their fraudulent ways unless the court grants substantial injunctive relief,” Engoron wrote in the ruling.
Already in advance, the judge had found that Trump and his family business were guilty of exaggerating the value of their assets to secure favorable loans and insurance premiums.
The question that remained was how much the former president and co-defendants would be forced to fine.
Refused to dissolve completely
New York Attorney General Letitia James had demanded $370 million and a lifetime ban on Trump from New York, a “corporate death sentence”, as Trump himself called it.
The judge did not go that far. He refrained from trying to dissolve the real estate empire altogether.
The punishment can still hit Trump hard. Not only financially – also personally. It was the companies that helped Trump cast his image as a successful businessman, catapulting him to stardom and all the way to the White House.
Even Trump’s grown sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, have been ordered to pay $4 million for their personal profits from the fraud and are banned from business for two years. The chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, Allen Weisselberg was also fined $1 million.
The verdict comes after 2.5 months of trial with testimony from 40 people, including Trump himself.
Denied crime
Trump has consistently denied wrongdoing and says the banks made money off his investments.
“This is the culmination of a multi-year, politically motivated witch hunt designed to impeach Donald Trump,” writes Alina Habba, Trump’s lawyer at Platform X, adding:
“Countless hours of testimony proved that there was no wrongdoing, no crime and no victim.”.
According to Forbes, Trump’s fortune is estimated at $2.6 billion, and the fine is a significant percentage of his assets.
Today’s ruling also comes just a couple of weeks after the defamation case in which Trump was ordered to pay $83 million to journalist E. Jean Carrol. At the same time as his legal fees are growing in the four criminal cases in which he is accused.
The Trumps plan to appeal today’s decision.