A New York court fined former US President Donald Trump $355 for defrauding lenders by inflating the value of his assets.
Judge Arthur Ngoron gave the verdict on Friday. Through this, Trump, the candidate leading the race for the nomination of the Republican Party in the upcoming presidential election of the United States, faced legal disaster in another case. His huge housing business will be hit by this verdict.
The three-month trial in Manhattan also barred Trump from serving as a director or officer of any corporation in New York for three years.
According to the Reuters news agency, Trump’s lawyer Alina Haba said that an appeal will be made against the verdict.
New York Attorney General Letisha James filed the suit. The allegations were that Trump and his family business, the Trump Organization, defrauded bankers for more than a decade to overstate his net worth by about $3.6 billion a year in order to get favorable loan terms.
Trump claimed that Democrat Letisha James brought these charges out of political revenge. He is facing four other criminal cases.
Trump called Judge Ngoron “crooked” and James “corrupt” in a post on his social media site Social Truth after the verdict. He termed the case against him as ‘election interference’ and ‘witch hunting’.
Trump’s two sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, were ordered to pay $4 million in fines. Their company’s former COO, Alan Weiselberg, was fined $1 million.
Trump will not be able to do business in New York for three years, and his two sons will be under the ban for two years. Trump, his company or any of its affiliates cannot apply for a loan for three years.
Barbara Jones will serve another three years as an independent monitor of the Trump Corporation. But the company avoided the most disastrous punishment, the court did not cancel its business license.
