A New York judge fined Donald Trump and the Trump Organization $350 million on Friday, marking Democrats’ latest bid to financially and politically cripple the former president ahead of the 2024 election.
According to The New York Times, Justice Arthur Engoron ruled that “the former president [is] liable for conspiring to manipulate his net worth” and mandated “he pay a penalty of $355 million that could wipe out his entire stockpile of cash.” The justice also banned Trump from serving in top roles “at any New York company, including his own,” for three years.
The lawsuit against Trump, his children, and their business was filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat who campaigned on weaponizing the legal system to target Trump. As The Federalist’s Tristan Justice previously reported, James alleged the aforementioned individuals and the Trump Organization “’grossly‘ inflated their assets in financial statements by billions of dollars.”
However, during previous court testimony, Eli Bartov, an accounting professor at New York University, said “there is no evidence whatsoever of any accounting fraud” by Trump or his associates and further claimed his analysis “shows the statements of financial condition for all the years were not materially misstated.”
Friday’s ruling was hardly surprising given the level of bias Engoron demonstrated throughout the trial. In September, for example, the justice relied upon a faulty appraisal of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate to “conclude that Trump’s substantially higher self-reported appraisal was a fraudulent inflation of the property’s value.” Engoron also placed a temporary gag order on the former president the following month and was caught laughing at the start of a court proceeding.
The civil penalties levied against Trump represent Democrats’ latest attempt to weaponize the legal system against the former president to keep him from getting reelected this fall. Across four different venues, the Biden Justice Department and Democrat prosecutors have levied a collective 91 criminal indictments against Trump, with the goal of imprisoning the likely Republican presidential nominee before the November election.
And these charges don’t even include the various attempts by Democrat election officials to kick Trump off the ballot in states such as Maine and Colorado.
Despite casting themselves as the party of “democracy,” Democrats are utilizing every tool at their disposal to deprive voters of a free and fair electoral process. If they aren’t attempting to throw Trump in prison, they’re trying to strip away his financial assets and ability to sustain a living.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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