A New York judge fined former US President Donald Trump nearly $355 million on Friday and banned him from running his business for three years, in what could represent a serious blow to his empire.
“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. Children and Family Business, a group of the Trump Organization, to pay $354,868,768.
Trump, 77, who is seeking to return to the White House in the November election, appeared with two of his sons – Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump – in a long civil trial from October to January, accused of inflating the value of the currency. From the origins of his family empire, the Trump Organization.
From his property in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, the businessman promised to appeal the judge's decision, a procedure that his defense lawyer, Alina Haba, has already submitted.
“We will appeal,” Trump said, accusing President Joe Biden of pushing for impeachment proceedings.
Previously, on his Social Truth Network, the former president accused Judge Engoron of being “crooked” and the prosecutor of being “totally corrupt.” He also described the ruling as “electoral interference” and a “witch hunt” when he emerged as the front-runner to win the Republican presidential nomination.
For his part, Habba described the ruling as a “clear injustice” and announced his appeal: “We are confident that the Court of Appeal will overturn this terrible ruling and put an end to this relentless persecution.”
“Their complete lack of remorse and remorse amounts to pathology. They are only accused of inflating the value of assets to make more money,” Judge Engoron says in his ruling, in which he asserts that “the defendants are unable to admit their wrongdoing.” “.
“Instead, they adopt a 'see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil' attitude that is refuted by the evidence,” he adds.
His two sons were also ordered to pay $4 million each.
“Great victory”
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that this ruling is a “major victory” for all those who “believe that we are all obligated to play by the same rules, including former presidents.”
The prosecutor, whom Trump repeatedly accuses of being “corrupt” and “racist,” added, “No matter how big, rich, or powerful you think you are, no one is above the law.”
James filed this civil lawsuit in 2022 alleging financial fraud against members of the Trump family for inflating the value of his real estate empire, a holding conglomerate that included skyscrapers, luxury hotels, and golf courses around the world during the first decade of the twenty-first century.
All this to get better loans from banks and better insurance terms.
Some assets, such as Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, symbolize the success of a businessman who entered politics thanks to his image as a successful real estate developer.
Even before the trial, Judge Engoron, who during the trial threatened to expel the businessman from the hearings, ruled that a fraud had occurred.
The judge found that Attorney General James, an elected Democrat, presented “conclusive evidence that the defendants, between 2014 and 2021, overstated the assets” of the group by “$812 million (a) $2.2 billion,” depending on the year. .
91 indictments
The Republican had repeated during the trial that it was a trial “befitting a banana republic.”
In the coming months, he will have to take the bench to answer 91 criminal charges in Washington, Florida and Georgia as well as in Manhattan, where another trial is scheduled to begin on March 25, the first in criminal proceedings against a former US president. , for paying money during the 2016 election campaign to a pornographic actress to buy her silence, and converting it as legal expenses, in violation of the law.
His lawyers represented him on Friday in Atlanta (Georgia), where he was accused of conspiring to overturn the 2020 elections, which he lost to Biden.
is reading: The court ruled that Trump is not immune and could face trial on conspiracy charges
Edition: Estefania Cardinia
