Judge Arthur Engoron hit Donald Trump with his biggest punishment to date on Friday, in a ruling that fined the former president $355 million for fraudulently inflating the values of his properties.
Combined with the $83 million judgment issued against Trump for defaming E. Jean Carroll, that means Trump has been fined roughly $438 million over the past four weeks.
Friday’s ruling underscored how the civil cases against Trump are still significantly damaging to the former president, endangering his business empire even as he faces four criminal trials, the first of which is set to begin next month.
Engoron found Trump liable for fraud, conspiracy and issuing false financial statements and false business records, and he barred him from serving as director of a company in New York for three years. But while he stopped short of dissolving 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.
“Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological,” Engoron wrote of Trump and his co-defendants.
Here’s what to know from the decision:
The fines Engoron levied in his ruling against Trump – known as “disgorgement,” or the return of ill-gotten gains – are higher in terms of magnitude than any previous fine levied against the former president and his company.
New York Attorney General Letitia James had asked Engoron to fine Trump and other defendants $370 million, accusing them of engaging in a long-running fraud scheme of inflating Trump’s assets on his financial statements.
It came pretty close. Engoron found that the defendants’ fraud saved them about $168 million in interest, fining…
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