Arthur F. Engoron, Justice, After presiding over a non-jury trial that began on October 2,2023, and ended on December 13, 2023,with closing arguments on January 11, 2024, this Court makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law and issues this Decision and Order:
SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
NEW YORK COUNTY
PRESENT: HON. ARTHUR F. ENGORON
Justice
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK,BY LETITIA JAMES, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK,
Plaintiff,
v.
DONALD J.TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP JR.,ERIC TRUMP, ALLEN WEISSELBERG, JEFFREY MCCONNEY, THE DONALD J. TRUMPRE VOCABLETRUST, THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION, INC., TRUMP ORGANIZATION LLC, DJT HOLDINGS LLC, DJT HOLDINGS MANAGING MEMBER, TRUMP ENDEAVOR 12 LLC, 401 NORTH WABASH VENTURE LLC, TRUMP OLD POST OFFICE LLC, 40 WALL STREET LLC, SEVEN SPRINGS LLC,
Defendants.
PART 37
INDEX NO: 452564/2022
Decision and Order After Non-Jury Trial
SUMMARY
Donald Trump and entities he controls own many valuable properties, including office buildings, hotels, and golf courses. Acquiring and developing such properties required huge amounts of cash Accordingly, the entities borrowed from banks and other lenders. The lenders required personal guarantees from Donald Trump, which were based on statements of financial condition compiled by accountants that Donald Trump engaged. The accountants created these compilations based on data submitted by the Trump entities. In order to borrow more and at lowerrates, defendants submitted blatantly false financial data to the accountants, resulting in fraudulent financial statements. When confronted at trial with the statements, defendants fact and expert witnesses simply denied reality, and defendants failed to accept responsibility or to impose internal controls to prevent future recurrences. As detailed here in, thisCourtnowfinds defendants liable,continuestheappointmentofanIndependentMonitor,orderstheinstallation of an Independent Director of Compliance, and limits defendants right to conduct business in New York for a few years.