Trump’s judgement fines jump to $461.6m, as court orders him, his company to pay $3644m for fraudPublished 6 days ago on February 17, 2024By Tim ElombahEx-United States President Donald Trump looking glum in court
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Judgement fines slammed on former United States President Donald Trump has jumped to $461.6 million after a New York court ordered the former president to pay $364 million in penalties over offences bordering on fraud.
The court had ordered him and his company to pay $363.8 million for fraud in a case that will leave a scar on his presidential ambition.
Because it was civil, not criminal, the case did not carry the potential of prison time.
See details of trump’s various fines incurred in different court judgments below:
He also incurred $15,000 in fines for violating a gag order imposed by the judge following disparaging social media remarks about a court staffer.
Court held that Trump lied about his wealth for years in a civil fraud case that endangered his real estate business.
In an earlier ruling, the judge found, among other things, that Trump’s financial statements had wrongly claimed his Trump Tower penthouse was nearly three times its actual size.
He noted that he overvalued his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, based on the idea that the property could be developed for residential use.
However, he had already surrendered his rights to develop it for any uses but a club.
The presiding judge, Arthur Engoron punished Trump, his company, its executives including his two eldest sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.
Judge Engoron said that the defendants schemed to dupe banks, insurers and others by inflating Trump’s wealth on financial statements.
The judge placed Trump Organization under court supervision and curtailed how it does business.
He expectedly vowed to appeal the judgement, hence will not have to pay immediately.
Under state law, meanwhile, he is required to pay interest on the penalties to the state, which may be as much as $450 million.
The amount, on the other hand, will continue to grow until he pays.
Eric and Donald Trump Jr. were each ordered to pay $4 million realised from the 2022 sale of Trump’s Washington, D.C. hotel.
A former chief financial officer of the company, Allen Weisselberg, was also ordered to pay $1 million, being half of the $2 million severance he got.
Altogether, Trump and his co-defendants owe $364 million which, according to the prosecuting attorney, will grow to $464 million when interest is included.
In the meantime, Weisselberg and another longtime company executive, Jeffrey McConney, were barred by the court from ever holding a corporate finance or leadership role in the state.
The recent verdict evidently constitutes a noisy setback in the ambition of the Republican presidential front-runner to return to White House.
It could also dent his financial resources and damage his identity as a real estate developer, later a reality TV showman and finally the presidency.
Presently, Trump is facing four criminal indictments, and a civil lawsuit.
The judge, however, concluded that Trump and his company were likely to continue their fraudulent ways without the penalties and controls he imposed.
He noted that Trump and his co-defendants failed to accept responsibility and that experts who testified on his behalf simply denied reality.
“This is a venial sin, not a mortal sin.“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,” Engoron stated in the 92-page verdict.
He said their “complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological” and “the frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience.”
Reacting to the judgement, Trump said the decision constitutes an inference into the upcoming election.
He also described it as a “weaponization against a political opponent”, the judge — “extremely hostile” and the prosecutor — “a political hack.”
In his closing arguments in January, Trump had declared: “I am an innocent man”, and the case a — “fraud on me.”
