Trump, On Hook For $489 Million Civil Fraud Verdict, To Send Lawyers To Appeals Court
HuffPost
Amid accusations of bias, Donald Trump's legal team faces an uphill battle as it tries to cast off the costly penalty.
Lawyers for Donald Trump are set to appear at an appellate court for oral arguments in New York on Thursday as they try to overturn a staggering civil fraud verdict — now nearing $500 million with interest — that the former president and his co-defendants were slapped with earlier this year.
Judge Arthur Engoron ruled in February that Trump, the Trump Organization and some of its executives — including Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, as well as former Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg — falsified business records for years as they significantly overvalued real estate assets and holdings to secure sweetheart business deals and loans from insurers.
One such overvaluation involved Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. Trump had overvalued that property by as much as 2,300%, and he also claimed that his New York penthouse in Trump Tower was three times bigger than its actual size, Engoron found.
After nearly three months of proceedings, Engoron told Trump that the “frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience.” He ordered the former president, the Trump Organization and other related entities pay about $364 million, before interest, to the state of New York.
The total amount has since increased. The current penalty now hovers at $489 million, and interest continues to be tacked on to the tune of more than $110,000 daily as the case lumbers ahead.
"I am not going to do that. Maybe I’ll do it a little bit, but probably not," the comedian told CNN's Jake Tapper.
Harry Enten revealed how Americans "simply put do not want" the billionaire having a "key role" in the Trump administration.
The Trump White House press secretary's gaffe prompted two words to trend online.
The Minnesota senator mocked the president's supporters at the Washington Press Club Foundation Annual Congressional Dinner.
Desi Lydic swore off covering Trump's "exhausting and unsustainable" actions only to encounter one of his "crazy new" ideas.
President Donald Trump promised voters an administration that wouldn’t waste precious American lives and taxpayer treasure on far-off wars and nation-building.
The president's anecdote about Tommy Tuberville and Patrick Mahomes gets a fact-check on social media.
Renowned academic Michael Burawoy, 77, was killed in a hit-and-run in Oakland this week.
“He’s the architect of the dismantling of our federal government,” Sen. Brian Schatz, one of dozens taking part in a 30-hour talkathon, said of Russell Vought.
If you run the government into the ground, the consequences are much bigger than a “fail-whale” message.
After the Los Angeles wildfires, the award show was the healing experience I didn't know I needed.
Lara Trump's new Fox News show is unprecedented.
Rep. Mike Collins just added to his growing list of bad social media posts.