A New York judge on Friday found Donald J. Trump guilty of conspiring to manipulate his net worth, and ordered him to pay a penalty of $355 million. The ex-president has also been prohibited from acting as a company director in any company in New York, including his own, for three years. His sons, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, were also fined $4m each and blocked from acting as directors for two years. Eric is the de facto chief executive of the Trump empire.
‘Borders on pathological’
Last month, a trial court had found the three men liable of inflating the value of their properties by hundreds of millions of dollars. Slamming Trump and his sons for refusing to admit errors for years, Justice Arthur F. Engoron said that “their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological.”
The Trumps will appeal the penalty and the ban, but they will still have to either come up with the money or secure a bond within 30 days, says the New York Times. Justice Engoron also ruled that retired federal judge Barbara Jones will continue in her role as independent monitor of the Trump Organization for “no less than three years”.
Inflation Rules
New York Attorney General Letitia James had sued Trump and his two sons in 2022, accusing them of lying to lenders and insurers by fraudulently overvaluing his assets in order to obtain favourable loan terms and insurance policies. In some years, she claimed, Donald Trump’s financial statements inflated his net worth by as much as $2 billion.
Hush No More
On Thursday, another New York Judge ruled that Donald Trump’s ‘hush money’ trial would go ahead as scheduled, with jury selection starting March 25. Rejecting requests from Trump’s legal team to postpone the first criminal trial of a former President, Judge Juan Merchan on Thursday said the trial could last for six weeks, with a possible verdict in May.
Trump is accused of paying off pornstar “Stormy” Daniels, a Playboy model and a Trump Towers doorman to stay quiet about his extra-marital affairs before the 2016 Presidential elections, and then fudging his financial records to write off the payments. If convicted, he could face up to four years in prison.
Presidential Right?
Trump also faces trial in Washington and Georgia for plotting to overthrow the 2020 elections, and in Florida for illegally holding on to and mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House, making false statements and engaging in a conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Rejected by the lower courts, Trump’s argument that he cannot be prosecuted for acts he performed as the President of the United State is now before the Supreme Court.
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