Trump sentenced to pay $355 million for inflating the value of his properties

A police officer watches inside Trump Tower, in Manhattan, in March 2023. AMANDA PEROBELLI (REUTERS)

New York's strict anti-fraud legislation, in force for more than six decades, has reached Donald Trump in a turbulent week for the Republican from a judicial point of view.

One day after the date of March 25 was confirmed as the start of the first criminal trial against a former US president, for the

Stormy Daniels case

, the favorite candidate for the Republican nomination for the November presidential elections has been convicted this Friday to pay 354.9 million dollars (about 330 million euros) for exaggerating his net worth to obtain favorable loans, a crime of which he had already been found guilty in 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

a civil trial, Trump's reputation as a successful businessman - his main claim when he made the leap into politics - has been seriously undermined, not to mention of the blow to his interests: the prohibition of running any company in New York, the headquarters of his empire, for three years.

The decision by Judge Arthur Engoron, who already ruled last September that Trump and the rest of the defendants had committed fraud - now it was only a matter of knowing the fine - corresponds to what was expected.

The attorney general of New York, Democrat Letitia James, had requested a penalty of $370 million, of which $168 million corresponds to what Trump saved on loans by inflating their value, that is, the extra interest that lenders they stopped perceiving.

In addition to the monetary penalty, James sought to ban Trump's activity in New York's real estate industry and sharply limit his ability to do business in the state.

She also requested five years of suspension for Trump's two adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, also accused.

The sanction represents a not insignificant amount even for the personal fortune of Trump, who in another civil trial has been sentenced to pay a total of 88 million for sexually abusing columnist E. Jean Carroll (five million) and for defaming her (83 million ).

In minutes alone, the political action committees (PACs) that articulate his campaign spent about $50 million in donations last year.

Throughout the process, Judge Engoron has been skeptical of the former president's claims - despite being insulted by him several times - as well as sympathetic to the arguments of prosecutor James.

In addition to the financial penalty for exaggerating his net worth up to 3.6 billion in a decade, James asked the judge, who has decided for himself - there has been no jury to set the fine -, to prohibit Trump and the rest of the defendants - among them they, their two oldest children—run any company in the state.

The former president's lawyers tried on several occasions to derail the case, without success.

In a post on social media, Trump once disparaged the attorney general's accusations by writing, in his usual angry capital letters: “I AM WORTH MUCH MORE THAN THE NUMBERS THAT APPEAR ON MY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.”

The tycoon has always maintained that his lenders were not victims, since they made money from his dealings with him.

As in the rest of the ongoing processes, the Republican has presented himself as a victim of a political witch hunt by the Democrats to torpedo his electoral prospects.

While waiting for Engoron's ruling, which includes six other lawsuits, including those of conspiracy and falsification of business records, a few weeks ago new irregularities of the family company, the Trump Organization, became known thanks to an external audit commissioned by Engoron to end of 2022. The task of overseeing the accounts fell to a former federal judge, and her report highlighted several paperwork problems at a family business trying to shake off a mark of sloppiness: missing statements, typographical errors, mathematical errors and questions about a $48 million loan between Trump and one of the companies in the family empire.

As the auditor told the judge, the problems “may reflect a lack of adequate internal controls.”

The findings of this scrutiny were denied by Trump's lawyers for, in their opinion, "acting in bad faith."

To put the Trump Organization's fraud in context, the AP agency reviewed almost 150 cases reported since the New York "repeated fraud" law was approved in 1956.

The evaluation showed that, in almost all cases, casualties and losses were key factors.

Customers who were victims of fraud had lost money, purchased defective products, or never received the services they requested.

What's more, the companies investigated were almost always intervened as a last resort to stop an ongoing fraud and prevent 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 marketed financial advice but actually scammed the public. people with the deeds to their houses.

Hair growth sellers, in short, whose profile does not coincide in principle with the figure of Trump, who boasts of his business excellence in the reality television program

The Apprentice

, which served as a springboard for him to the White House in 2016.

Follow all the international information on

Facebook

and

X

, or in

our weekly newsletter

.