- As part of Friday's verdict in his fraud trial, Donald Trump was ordered to pay $355 million to the state of New York.
- Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the lawsuit, called the ruling a “remarkable victory.”
- The saga began in 2019 when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.
A years-long legal battle between Donald Trump and Attorney General Letitia James has ended after a judge ordered the former president, his companies and associates to pay nearly $364 million in fines to the state. It was finally over.
And if someone had been newly elected years ago, this incident might never have happened. Member of Parliament Michael Cohen, a native of Trump's home state, did not criticize Trump's finances.
of The former president will have to cough himself from now on. $355 million Subject to any other penalties prescribed by a judge of the Supreme Court of the State of New York. Arthur Engoron He described it as a “fraud” that “shocked his conscience”. Friday's verdict.
The Trump group said in a statement that the ruling was a “grave miscarriage of justice.” Trump is likely to appeal.
Given the dozens of details that have emerged from this incident, Gag order drama and many testimonies from those involved. Trump's circle –It may be difficult to remember how President Trump's business practices came under scrutiny in the first place.
Mr. James has criticized Mr. Trump after the fresh and ambitious Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez followed up on former Rep. William Lacy Clay's questions about Mr. Trump's business practices. This led to a civil lawsuit costing millions of dollars.
Cohen, a former Trump lawyer who was convicted in 2018, was arrested in 2019. 3 years imprisonment He testified before the House Oversight and Reform Committee about crimes he committed while working for Trump.
ocasio-cortez Mr. Cohen again asked whether the former president had ever inflated his assets. “Yes,” Cohen replied.
“Who else would know that the president did this?” she continued.
“Allen Weisselberg, Ron Lieberman, and Matthew Calamari,” Cohen replied, referring to Trump.org’s former CFO, current executive vice president, and current COO, respectively.
Weisselberg was ordered Friday to pay a $1 million fine.
“I would like to thank Judge Engoron for recognizing my truthfulness and hope this will help expose Trump, Hubba, Kise and Robert's endless lies and attacks against me,” Cohen said in Business. said in a statement to Insider. “The truth always stands up!”
Ms. James nodded to Ocasio-Cortez's series of questions about her 2022 lawsuit.
“I would like to remind everyone that this investigation only began after former attorney Michael Cohen testified before Congress and shed light on this wrongdoing,” James said at the time.
Mr. Cohen later testified during his trial in October, and Mr. Trump said: “Arbitrarily chosen” numbers when evaluating his assets. “And my responsibility, along with Allen Weisselberg, was primarily to reverse engineer the value of the Trump Organization's assets to hit the numbers that Mr. Trump told us to do,” Cohen said.
Representatives for Ocasio-Cortez, Trump and James did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
