Donald Trump Ordered To Pay Over $350 Million In Fraud Verdict

Court is officially dismissed! The civil fraud trial brought by the state of New York against former president and 2024 Republican nominee hopeful Donald J. Trump has finally come to a close. As reported by NBC News, Trump has been ordered to pay a whopping $354 million in penalties in his civil fraud trial. The verdict also bars 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."

In the case — one of many legal battles Trump is facing as his 2024 reelection campaign marches on — New York Attorney General Letitia James was seeking $370 million in damages from the former president's company. These penalties represents yet another blow to Trump's fortune, coming fresh on the heels of last month's verdict that ordered him to pay $83.3 million in damages to E. Jean Carroll for defamation. 

The highly-anticipated verdict of this civil fraud trial — complete with both outrageous and awkward moments — has been a long time coming. As you may recall, Justice Arthur Engoron ruled on September 26, 2023, that Trump was indeed guilty of committing fraud by inflating the value of his assets along with his net worth, in an effort to obtain favorable loans and insurance terms. 

Then, on January 5, New York Attorney General Letitia James upped the ante when she requested that Trump be penalized a staggering $370 million, an amount she alleged he gained fraudulently. This new number was far more than the original $250 million that she first sought in the fall of 2022.

Trump, however, wasn't willing to take the new figure development lying down. He sounded off in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, writing, "Now the courrput [sic] A.G. [attorney general] wants $370,000,000 as businesses flee New York. They should pay me. This is prosecutorial misconduct – a DOJ [Department of Justice] witch hunt!"