Trump Fined $355M in Fraud Case

Facts

• A New York court on Friday fined former US president Donald Trump over $355M — plus interest — in his civil fraud case. It also barred him from top positions in New York firms, including his own Trump Organization.¹
• This verdict wraps up a monthslong nonjury trial stemming from a state investigation into alleged systematic fraud by the Republican frontrunner and his financial team to gain access to low-interest financing deals with lenders before he became president.²
• His adult sons, Eric and Donald Jr., were fined over $4M each and banned from running any New York company for two years in the case. Meanwhile, former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg was ordered to pay $1M.³
• Trump and his family have denied any wrongdoing, pledging to appeal this latest decision. He claimed that his assets had been undervalued and loans were repaid, while his legal team insisted that his financial statements explicitly told banks they should conduct their own assessments.⁴
• This comes weeks after the former president was ordered to pay more than $83M in damages to E. Jean Carroll in her defamation case, on top of a $5M penalty he was directed to pay last year. He has already challenged the earlier decision, and plans to appeal the latest verdict as well.⁵
• As Trump hopes to retake the White House later this year, he still faces four criminal indictments, civil lawsuits seeking to hold him liable for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, as well as a 14th Amendment case to disqualify him from the presidential ballot in Colorado.⁶

Sources: ¹New York Times, ²Wall Street Journal, ³The Hill, ⁴FOX News, ⁵POLITICO and ⁶Forbes.

Narratives

• Anti-Trump narrative, as provided by CNN. The New York court has dealt a humiliating blow to Trump's carefully crafted image of being a gifted businessman who has run an empire through charm, glitz, and smarts. At the same time, it has shown that the judicial system is indeed able to constrain this irrepressible figure who risks damaging American unity and democratic institutions.
• Pro-Trump narrative, as provided by New York Post. Everyone knew from the onset that Trump would be punished harshly in this politically motivated trial, especially as the former president had been declared guilty before the trial even began. Democrats may be celebrating now that they've proved Trump has a propensity for exaggeration, but all they've really done is shown Americans the justice system is rigged against him.
• Narrative C, as provided by CNN. If recent trends are anything to go by, this defeat is only going to bring more wind under Trump's wings. Trump seems to gather more support among voters every time he's saddled with litigation — along with less public trust in the legal system — and this time is unlikely to be any different.

Predictions