Trump, ordered to pay 355 million dollars for inflating the value of his properties | International

New York’s tough anti-fraud legislation, in place for more than six decades, has made its way to Donald Trump in a judicially turbulent week for the Republican. One day after the date of March 25, the start of the first criminal trial against a former president of the United States was confirmed by the The Stormy Daniels case, the favorite candidate for the Republican nomination for the November presidential elections was sentenced this Friday to pay 354.9 million dollars (about 330 million euros) for having exaggerated his net worth to obtain advantageous loans, a crime of which he was already was found guilty September. The list of inflated assets includes his apartment in Manhattan’s Trump Tower, his Mar-a-Lago estate and several golf courses, among others.

Although unlike the four criminal charges against him, the one in New York was only civil trial, Trump’s reputation as a successful businessman – his main claim when he entered politics – has been seriously undermined, not to mention the blow dealt to his interests: a ban on operating any company in New York, headquarters of his store, for three years.

The decision of Judge Arthur Engoron, who already last September had established that Trump and the rest of the defendants had committed fraud – now it was just a question of knowing the fine – corresponds to what was expected. The attorney general of New York, the Democrat Letitia James, had asked for a fine of 370 million dollars, of which 168 million correspond to how much Trump saved on the loans by inflating their value, i.e. the extra interest that the lenders stopped receiving. In addition to the financial penalty, James sought to ban Trump from New York real estate and dramatically limit his ability to do business in the state. She also requested five-year suspensions for Trump’s two adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, who were also charged. The judge imposed two.

The fine represents a non-negligible figure also for Trump’s personal assets, who in another civil trial was sentenced to pay a total of 88 million for having sexually abused the journalist E. Jean Carroll (five million) and for defaming her ( 83 million). ). Last year, in just a few minutes, campaign political action committees (PACs) spent approximately $50 million in donations.

Throughout the trial, Judge Engoron was skeptical of the former president’s claims – despite being insulted by him several times – as well as sympathetic to prosecutor James’ arguments. In addition to the financial penalty for exaggerating his net worth by as much as $3.6 billion over a decade, James asked the judge, who decided alone – there was no jury to set the fine – to ban Trump and to the rest of the defendants – among them they, their two eldest sons, manage any company in the state. The former president’s lawyers attempted several times to derail the case, without success.

In a social media post, Trump once decried the attorney general’s allegations, writing, in his usual angry capital letters: “WORTH MUCH MORE THAN THE NUMBERS THAT APPEAR ON MY BALANCE SHEETS.” The tycoon has always maintained that his financiers were not victims, as they profited from their dealings with him. As in the rest of the ongoing trials, the Republican presented himself as the victim of a political witch hunt by the Democrats to torpedo his electoral prospects.

While awaiting Engoron’s sentence, which includes six other lawsuits, including those for criminal conspiracy and falsification of corporate documents, a few weeks ago new irregularities in the family business, the Trump Organization, became known thanks to an external audit commissioned by Engoron at the end of the year. 2022. The job of overseeing the accounts fell to a former federal judge, and his report highlighted several bureaucratic problems in a family business trying to shake off a sign of negligence: missing statements, typographical errors, mathematical errors and questions about a $48 million loan between Trump and one of the family empire’s companies. As the auditor told the judge, the problems “may reflect a lack of adequate internal controls.” The results of this examination were withheld by Trump’s lawyers because, in their opinion, they “acted in bad faith.”

To put the Trump Organization’s fraud into context, the AP examined nearly 150 cases reported since New York’s “repeat fraud” law was passed in 1956. The assessment found that, in nearly all cases, the victims and losses were a key factor. Customers who were victims of fraud had lost money, purchased defective products or had never received the services they requested. Furthermore, the companies under investigation almost always intervened as a last resort to stop an ongoing fraud and avoid new victims. Among the most notorious frauds, according to the AP investigation, were a fake psychologist who sold dubious treatments, a fake lawyer who promised students a place in law school and businessmen who sold financial advice but actually cheated the public with the documents to do so. their homes. Hair growth sellers, in short, whose profile does not coincide in principle with the figure of Trump, who boasts of his entrepreneurial excellence in the reality television program. The beginnerwhich served as a springboard to the White House in 2016.

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