Donald Trump ordered to pay more than $350m in massive fraud trial ruling
Donald Trump stopped by “Sneaker Con” to launch new golden Trump-branded high-tops as he closes in on the Republican nomination.
The former US President was met with loud boos as well as cheers at the Philadelphia Convention Center at “Sneaker Con,” a gathering that bills itself as the “The Greatest Sneaker Show on Earth” as he introduced what he called the first official Trump footwear.
The shoes, shiny gold high tops with an American flag detail on the back, are being sold as “Never Surrender High-Tops” for $399 on a new website that also sells other Trump-branded shoes and “Victory47” cologne and perfume for $99 a bottle.
It came after Justice Arthur Engoron delivered his verdict in Donald Trump’s New York civil fraud trial that sees the former president, his company, and his associates with $355m in fines — with interest $463.9m — and a three-year ban on doing business in the state.
The judge had already ruled that Mr Trump inflated his wealth on financial statements that were given to banks and insurers to make deals and secure favourable loans.
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How much is Trump worth and can he afford to pay up?
Joe Sommerlad and Ariana Baio look at the numbers:
Mike Bedigan18 February 2024 11:03
Watch: Watch Trump’s ranting response to $350 fine over illegal business dealings
Watch Trump’s ranting response to $350 fine over illegal business dealings
Mike Bedigan18 February 2024 10:00
Trump in 15minute rant about ‘crooked’ judge during electoral pitch
Former President Donald Trump has blasted the judge who fined him $355 million as crooked in a bid to appeal to the blue-collar and union voters who were critical to his victory in 2016.
“We have to let them know a freight train is coming in November,” Trump told more than 2,000 supporters gathered in a freezing plane hangar in Waterford Township, in the suburbs of Detroit.
But Trump was again most focused on his grievances, opening with a 15-minute screed about the criminal and civil cases against him.
On Friday, a judge in New York ordered Trump to pay $355 million after concluding he had lied about his wealth for years, scheming to dupe banks, insurers and others by inflating his wealth on financial statements. Trump has vowed to appeal.
Trump cast Friday’s decision as “a lawless and unconstitutional atrocity that sets fire to our laws like no one has ever seen in this country before.”
He called the judge in the case, Arthur Engoron, “crooked,” and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the case, a “lunatic.” He called special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two federal indictments against him an “animal,” while mocking the pronunciation of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ name.
(AP)
Barney Davis18 February 2024 09:52
Judge believes former Trump fixer Michael Cohen
Judge Arthur Engoron hit Donald Trump with a whopping $355 million fine for fraudulently inflating the values of his properties.
In his summing up Engoron recapped Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen’s trial testimony, acknowledging the credibility issues with Trump’s former lawyer who had previously pleaded guilty to perjury.
He added he believed Cohen as he dismissed Trump’s narrative that Cohen was a star witness for the attorney general on whose credibility the case could teeter.
“Although the animosity between the witness and the defendant is palpable, providing Cohen with an incentive to lie, the Court found his testimony credible, based on the relaxed manner in which he testified, the general plausibility of his statements, and, most importantly, the way his testimony was corroborated by other trial evidence,” Engoron wrote.
“Michael Cohen was an important witness on behalf of the plaintiff, although hardly the linchpin that defendants have attempted to portray him to be,” Engoron said.
The judge said he believed Cohen when he testified that “Trump did not expressly direct him to reverse engineer financial statements, he ordered him to do so indirectly, in his ‘mob voice.’”
“A less-forgiving factfinder might have concluded differently, might not have believed a single word of a convicted perjurer,” Engoron also wrote.
“This factfinder does not believe that pleading guilty to perjury means that you can never tell the truth. Michael Cohen told the truth.”
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Mike Bedigan18 February 2024 08:03
Report: Trump privately supporting 16-week abortion ban because he likes even numbers
Former President Donald Trump has quietly expressed support for a 16-week abortion ban but told his advisers he wants to keep his opinions close to his chest until the end of the Republican presidential primary, according to reports.
The New York Times was the first to report the news. According to the outlet, Mr Trump is advocating for a ban with three exceptions: in cases of rape or incest, or to save the life of the mother. The paper said the information came from “two people with direct knowledge of Mr Trump’s deliberations.”
Michelle Del Rey has the story:
Mike Bedigan18 February 2024 06:30
Gag orders, courtroom outbursts and a $355m outcome — How Trump’s historic fraud trial unfolded
Alex Woodward has followed Donald Trump’s civil fraud case from day one. Here’s his timeline of key moments from the announcement of the lawsuit through the dramatic trial:
Mike Bedigan18 February 2024 04:30
‘My father built the skyline of New York City’ Eric Trump defends Donald
Eric Trump has moved to defend his father in a passionate rant on Fox News.
Trump said his father is the “toughest guy he has ever met” and “hell-bent on winning” a civil fraud trial that sees the former president, his company, and his associates with $355m in fines and a three-year ban on doing business in the state.
Eric claimed on Fox News his father revitalised and rebuilt much of New York City’s skyline, as the city fell on hard times in the 1980s.
“My father built the skyline of New York City: And this is the thanks he gets for doing absolutely nothing wrong – in fact the exact opposite.”
Eric Trump called his case “rigged,” claiming the suit filed by New York Democratic Attorney General Letitia James should have gone via the court’s commercial division.
“The best thing I ever did was get out of New York,” said Trump.
(AP )
Mike Bedigan18 February 2024 02:30
Donald Trump won’t face the corporate death penalty after all
A New York judge spared the ex-president that worst case punishment as he ruled in a civil case alleging Trump fraudulently misrepresented financial figures to get cheaper loans and other benefits.
Still, Trump got slammed hard, facing big cash penalties, outside supervision of his companies and restrictions on his borrowing.
In a pretrial ruling last year, the same judge threatened to shut down much of the Republican presidential front-runner’s business by calling for the “dissolution” of corporate entities that hold many of his marquee properties. That raised the specter of possible fire sales of Trump Tower, a Wall Street skyscraper and other properties.
But New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron called off the dissolution.
Instead, he said the court would appoint two monitors to oversee the Trump Organization to make sure it doesn’t continue to submit false figures.
“It’s a complete reversal,” said real estate lawyer Adam Leitman Bailey. “There’s a big difference between having to sell your assets and a monitor who gets to look over your shoulders.”
In his ruling, Engoron banned Trump from serving as an officer or director in any New York corporation for three years, prohibited him from taking out loans with New York banks and said his company and other defendants have to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in fines.
Mike Bedigan18 February 2024 01:30
Trump booed for trying to flog branded shoes at Sneaker Con
Mike Bedigan18 February 2024 00:30
Watch: NY Attorney General makes remarks after Trump fined more than $350 million
NY Attorney General makes remarks after Trump fined more than $350 million
Mike Bedigan17 February 2024 23:36