Judge orders Trump and companies to pay nearly $355 million in civil fraud trial

In remarks from Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump slammed Judge Arthur Engoron, New York Attorney General Letitia James and vowed to appeal Friday's ruling that orders he and his companies pay nearly $355 million.

“It’s a very sad day for, in my opinion, the county," the former president said speaking from Palm Beach, Florida.

"We’ll appeal, we’ll be successful, I think,” Trump said

More on the ruling: The ruling in the New York civil fraud case also says Trump will be barred from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in the state for three years, among other restrictions.

Earlier Friday, Trump called the ruling a sham on Truth Social.

CNN's Kate Sullivan contributed reporting to this post.

Attorney General Letitia James celebrated today's civil fraud ruling in remarks from New York, saying the court ruled "in favor of every hard-working American who plays by the rules."

James added, “Donald Trump may have authored the ‘Art of the Deal,’ but he perfected the art of the steal.”

"And so after 11 weeks of trial, we showed the staggering extent of his fraud, and exactly how Donald Trump and the other defendants deceived banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions for their own personal gain," she continued. "We proved just how much Donald Trump, his family and his company unjustly benefited from his fraud."

James said, “I want to be clear, white collar financial fraud is not a victimless crime. When the powerful break the law, and take more than their fair share, there are fewer resources available for working people, small businesses and families.”

The attorney general thanked those in her office who helped work on the case.

“The scale and the scope of Donald Trump’s fraud is staggering, and so to is his ego, and his belief that the rules do not apply to him. Today, we are holding Donald Trump accountable,” James said.

James did not take questions from reporters and departed the room directly after her remarks, which largely reflected the written statement issued by her office earlier Friday. 

The New York judge criticized one of the defenses put up by Donald Trump’s lawyers in the civil fraud case, writing in his ruling that claiming “everybody does it” is no reason to get away with fraud.

In fact, Judge Arthur Engoron argued it’s all the reason to be more vigilant in actually enforcing the rules. 

Known for his colorful writing, the judge also quoted an "ancient maxim" before saying the frauds at issue in this case "shock the conscience."

"As an ancient maxim has it, de minimis non curat lex, the law is not concerned with trifles. Neither is this Court," Judge Arthur Engoron wrote in his ruling. "But that is not what we have here." "The frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience," the judge wrote.

Remember: Trump’s attorneys argued during the trial that the attorney general’s claims against Trump had no victims — the banks were paid back and were eager to do business with Trump.

But the attorney general argued, and the judge agreed, that the fraudulent loans Trump received at lower rates had an impact on the marketplace. Plus, the law used to bring the claims against Trump does not require there to be victims of fraud in a traditional sense. 

Legal experts say former President Donald Trump is likely to use a bond, secured with his assets as collateral, as the first step in satisfying the judgment in the New York civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

On Friday, Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump and his companies to pay nearly $355 million, which Trump has vowed to appeal.

Under a so-called appeal bond, Trump would put up a percentage of the judgment and a third-party company that is the guarantor “is on the hook for the full amount,” said Joshua Naftalis, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice in New York.

What Trump has available: It’s difficult to determine the full assets available to Trump, because his business is a privately held concern and does not regularly file reports with regulators. In a deposition taken last year as part of the case brought by James, the former president said his company had more than $400 million in available cash.

Adam Leitman Bailey, a real estate attorney in New York, said Trump likely would have to put up 10% of the judgment in cash, plus an additional fee. 

In January, a jury in a civil defamation case ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million to former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll, on top of the $5 million verdict she had already won against him last year.

Donald Trump’s eldest sons — who’ve essentially run the Trump Organization since 2017 — are barred from serving as executives in New York for two years, according to Judge Arthur Engoron's order.

The Trumps will have to navigate the two-year penalty as they sort out the future of the family-run real estate company that also hasn’t filled the chief financial officer or controller positions vacated by former Trump Org. execs Allen Weisselberg and Jeff McConney.  

During closing arguments last month, Engoron questioned whether the attorney general presented any evidence that Trump’s eldest sons knew that there was fraud going on at the company — but ultimately found them liable for issuing false financial statements, falsifying business records, and conspiracy claims. 

The judge knocked Eric Trump’s credibility in his ruling, pointing out inconsistent testimony he gave at trial.  He “begrudgingly” conceded at trial that he actually knew about his father’s statements as early as 2013 “upon being confronted with copious documentary evidence conclusively demonstrating otherwise,” the judge wrote. 

Engoron also said Eric Trump unconvincingly tried to distance himself from some appraisals of Trump Org properties that offered a much lower valuation than reported on Donald Trump’s financial statements. 

More on the ruling: Eric and Donald Trump Jr. were both ordered to pay more than $4 million in disgorgement, or “ill-gotten” profits, they personally received from the 2022 sale of Trump’s hotel at the Old Post Office building in Washington DC. 

Ivanka Trump gets to keep her profits on the building sale because she was dismissed as a defendant in the case by an appeals court ahead of trial. But that didn’t stop Engoron from weighing in on her trial testimony, calling it “suspect.” 

Judge Arthur Engoron hit Donald Trump with his biggest punishment to date Friday, in a ruling that fined the former president nearly $355 million for fraudulently inflating the values of his properties.

The dollar amount dwarfed the verdict against Trump issued last month in the defamation case brought by E. Jean Carroll — an $83 million judgment — hitting home just how much the New York attorney general’s civil fraud case threatens Trump’s business empire.

Engoron found Trump liable for fraud, conspiracy, issuing false financial statements, and falsifying business records, barring him from serving as director of a company in New York for three years.

While the judge pulled back from trying to dissolve the Trump Organization altogether, Engoron issued a blistering 93-page opinion that painted the former president as unremorseful and highly likely to commit fraud again.

"This Court finds that defendants are likely to continue their fraudulent ways unless the Court grants significant injunctive relief,” Engoron wrote. 

The judge also ruled that Trump will have to pay millions in interest on the judgement amount.

Donald Trump’s attorneys have already appealed Judge Arthur Engoron’s 2023 summary judgment that found the former president liable for fraud — and the former president's attorneys are already planning to appeal Friday's decision, too.

Trump attorney Christopher Kise responded to Engoron's ruling in a statement Friday, saying the court "ignored the law, ignored the facts.”

Kise added Trump will appeal and “remains confident the Appellate Division will ultimately correct the innumerable and catastrophic errors made.”

During the 11-week trial, Trump’s attorneys repeatedly criticized Engoron’s handling of the case and raised objections “for the record” and a potential appeal. 

Engoron often acknowledged the likelihood of an appeal during the trial.

The ruling is likely to be tied up in the courts on appeal for a long time, and Engoron’s ruling Friday was written with an eye toward surviving an appellate challenge.

In his ruling that orders Donald Trump to pay nearly $355 million in profits from his fraud, Judge Arthur Engoron also ruled that the former president will have to pay interest on that money, dating back several years.

The interest could add close to $100 million to the amount Trump is liable for.

The judge broke down the $354,868,678 in disgorgement into three parts:

All of the prejudgment interest owed “shall be at the rate of nine percent per annum, except where otherwise provided by statute,” the judge wrote.  

In a statement on X, New York Attorney General Letitia James cited a higher total amount by including the interest as well as the money owed by Trump's two adult sons and former CFO.

"In a massive victory, we won our case against Donald Trump for engaging in years of incredible financial fraud to enrich himself," she wrote. "Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., Eric Trump, and his former executives must pay over $450 million in disgorgement and interest."

Former President Donald Trump on Friday blasted a ruling by a judge ordering him and his companies to pay nearly $355 million in the New York civil fraud case and continued claiming, without evidence, he had been politically targeted because he’s running for president.  

“This ‘decision’ is a Complete and Total SHAM,” Trump posted on Truth Social in his first public comments following the ruling.  

Trump said in a separate post, “The Democrat Club-controlled Judge Engoron has already been reversed four times on this case, a shameful record, and he will be reversed again. We cannot let injustice stand, and will fight Crooked Joe Biden’s weaponized persecution at every step.”