The former US president and his two sons were convicted for a series of financial frauds within the Trump Organization.
A New York judge on Friday ordered Donald Trump to pay $355 million in penalties, ruling that the former president had lied about his fortune for years.
The former US president, his company and his executives, including his two eldest sons, were found guilty of trying to defraud banks and insurers. The verdict forces a shakeup at the top of the Trump Organization, placing the company under court supervision and restricting how it does business.
This decision constitutes a bitter setback for the Republican candidate for the American presidency, the latest and most costly consequence of his recent troubles with the law. The magnitude of the verdict, which is added to the penalties imposed in other cases, risks considerably reducing Donald Trump’s financial resources.
The latter has undertaken to appeal and will therefore not have to pay immediately. He described this decision as“electoral inference” and D’“arming against a political adversary”complaining to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida, estate that he was being penalized for “built a perfect company, with big cash, big buildings, everything you need.”
The judge clarified that the Trump Organization would continue to operate, reversing an earlier ruling that would have dissolved Donald Trump’s companies.
The ruling also imposes a three-year ban on Donald Trump from serving as an officer or director of any New York company and bars his sons from serving for two years, effectively forcing the company to find new leaders, at least temporarily.