A New York state judge has ordered Donald Trump and his companies to pay $354 million in damages for engaging in civil fraud, with additional penalties and sanctions also levied against two of the former president’s sons.According to USA Today, New York County Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron also barred 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.”This prohibition, notes NBC News, effectively prohibits Trump from administering the New York affairs of his namesake company.Engoron, in his 92-page ruling, spared few words in condemning the extent of fraud committed by Trump.“The frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience,” Engoron wrote in his decision, which was released on Friday.“In order to borrow more and at lower rates, defendants submitted blatantly false financial data to the document, resulting in fraudulent financial statements,” Engoron wrote.In his ruling, Engoron characterized the refusal of Trump and his top-level officials to admit any errors in their financial statements as “pathological.” One of the instances Engoron cited in forming this opinion was Trump purportedly misrepresenting the size of his Trump Tower penthouse, claiming that it was three times larger than it is actually is.

A 2014 image of Donald Trump. Image from Flickr via Wikimedia Commons/user:Gage Skidmore. (CCA-BY-2.0).

“Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological,” Engoron said. “Defendants did not commit murder or arson. They did not rob a bank at gunpoint. Donald Trump is not Bernard Madoff.”“Yet,” he wrote, “defendants are incapable of admitting the error of their ways.”"Defendants’ refusal to admit error — indeed, to continue it, according to the Independent Monitor — constrains this Court to conclude that they will engage in it going forward unless judicially restrained," Engoron added.Shortly after Engoron issued his decision, New York Attorney General Letitia James—whose office filed the case—said that, with interest and other penalties applied, Trump will likely owe the state more than $450 million.“Donald Trump is finally facing accountability for his lying, cheating, and staggering fraud,” James said in a statement. “Because no matter how big, rich, or powerful you think you are, no one is above the law.”James said that the decision is “a tremendous victory for this state, this nation, and for everyone who believes we must all paly by the same rules—even former presidents.”Trump has, not surprisingly, already taken to social media to condemn Engoron and the court as “crooked” and corrupt.“A Crooked New York State Judge, working with a totally Corrupt Attorney General who ran on the basis of ‘I will get Trump,’ before knowing anything about me or my company, has just fined me $355 Million based on nothing other than having built a GREAT COMPANY,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “ELECTION INTERFERENCE. WITCH HUNT.”Trump has since told reporters that he plans to appeal the decision.

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After his latest court ruling, Trump could now face $540 million in fines. Does he have the money to pay?Donald Trump must pay $354m in fraud damages. How could he do it?Donald Trump ordered to pay $354 million in New York real estate fraud lawsuitJudge fines Donald Trump more than $350 million, bars him from running businesses in N.Y. for three years