By The New York civil business fraud trial of former President Donald Trump, two of his sons and the Trump Organization is over.
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron adjourned Thursday after more than five hours of closing arguments.
Now Engoron will consider whether to grant the attorney general’s request to fine Trump $370 million, ban him from the state’s real estate industry for life and bar him from serving as the officer or director of a New York corporation.
New York Attorney General Letitia James accused Trump and the other defendants of scheming to falsely inflate the stated values of more than a dozen real estate assets listed on his annual statements of financial condition to reap “hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains” from better loan terms.
The attorney general also asked that Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, each be banned from the state’s real estate industry for five years.
Trump, currently the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, has denied any wrongdoing in the case, and claimed throughout that he was the victim of a politically motivated persecution by James, a Democrat.
The trial, which did not have a jury, spanned 44 days.
Engoron is expected to issue his verdict in the case in the coming weeks.
Donald Trump’s civil business fraud trial, which began Oct. 2 of last year, has officially come to a close.
“It’s up to me now,” Judge Arthur Engoron said before adjourning the court.
Engoron said he will try to deliver his final ruling by Jan. 31.
But there is “no guarantee,” he added.
— Kevin Breuninger
A brief submitted by the attorney general before closing arguments “did not show much evidence” that Trump’s two adult sons and co-defendants knew there was fraud, said Judge Arthur Engoron.
Andy Amer, a lawyer for the attorney general, argued in court that Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump knew the financial statements in question contained misleading figures.
The remark from Engoron raised the prospect that the judge could ultimately deliver a lighter penalty to Trump’s sons.
Eric and Trump Jr. took control of the Trump Organization after Donald Trump was elected president in 2017.
— Kevin Breuninger
Trump bears responsibility for the financial statements at the heart of his fraud case, a lawyer for the attorney general’s office said in his closing arguments.
“He was the one responsible for the preparation, and the buck stops with him,” said Andy Amer, a lawyer for James.
Trump signed certifications to banks, Amer noted, so he “clearly knew” the financial statements were being used to procure loans.
Amer also cited testimony from Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer, who said Trump directed him and former executive Allen Weisselberg to inflate Trump’s asset values on the statements.
— Kevin Breuninger
Donald Trump’s lawyer Chris Kise went ballistic after a lawyer for the attorney general’s office quipped that Trump’s team had called a “Murderer’s Row of experts” as witnesses at trial.
“This is a Murderer’s Row?!” Kise fumed as he objected to AG lawyer Kevin Wallace’s characterization.
“You talk about me and my client like that? This is outrageous!” Kise exclaimed.
Wallace replied, “Chris, stop!”
Judge Arthur Engoron then asked Wallace if he was really accusing Trump’s experts of murder.
Wallace replied that he was merely using a baseball term for a particularly skillful lineup of hitters.
The term “Murderers Row” is commonly used to refer to the 1927 New York Yankees — which featured Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Earle Combs, Bob Meusel and Tony Lazzeri — who won the World Series in four straight games.
— Dan Mangan
Trump attorney Alina Habba railed against Judge Arthur Engoron for ruling that the former president was liable for fraud before the trial even began.
“Let’s remember that, before I walked into court, we had already lost,” Habba said at a press conference after leaving the court before lawyers for the attorney general’s office began their closing arguments.
“That was clear with his motion for summary judgment,” Habba said, “before witnesses, before experts.”
Indeed, Engoron in a pretrial ruling found Trump, his company and other defendants liable for fraudulently misstating the values of his real estate holdings and other assets for multiple years.
The trial is being conducted to determine damages and resolve remaining claims in Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit. Trump’s attorneys tried numerous times during the trial to scrap the case, but the judge rejected them all.
— Kevin Breuninger
A lawyer for the New York Attorney General’s Office began his closing argument by dismissing what he called “the same arguments from the defense” that have long been raised by Trump’s attorneys.
“Valuations are subjective, Donald Trump is rich and banks like rich people,” lawyer Kevin Wallace said, summarizing Trump’s claims. “Some of those arguments have already been rejected by this court on summary judgment.”
“We have not heard any new facts, because most of the facts are undisputed,” Wallace said. “They cannot argue that [Trump’s Trump Tower] triplex is 30,000 square feet, Mar-a-Lago is a private residence and Trump Park Avenue is rent-regulated.”
Wallace also said Trump’s annual statements of financial condition “were false every year” between 2011 and 2021 “by over a billion dollars.”
“Were they acting with intent when they manipulated their annual financial statements as part of a conspiracy?” Wallace asked about the defendants. “Did they know it? And the answer is yes.”
— Dan Mangan
A lawyer for Donald Trump’s two eldest sons argued there is no evidence that they did anything wrong.
“There is no case, there is nothing there,” said Cliff Robert, the attorney for Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
“This is a press release wrapped up in a lawsuit,” Robert said of the attorney general’s claims.
Robert also said the sons “have their futures ahead of them” and that “there are thousands of employees relying on Eric and Don with their hands on the wheel to make sure the company runs well.”
— Dan Mangan
Speaking up in the courtroom during closing arguments, Trump just insulted Judge Arthur Engoron directly and claimed he was being politically targeted.
“I am an innocent man, persecuted by someone running for office,” Trump said. “This is interference.”
“They found nothing and now they want $370 million, for what?” Trump asked. “I borrowed money from the bank because they wanted me to … they made money.”
“I know this is boring to you,” Trump then said directly to Engoron. “I know you have your own agenda; you can’t listen for more than one minute…”
Engoron had previously rejected Trump’s bid to personally deliver some closing arguments because his lawyer would not agree to limitations on what Trump could say.
But after the attorney, Chris Kise, asked the judge in court to grant Trump some time to speak, Engoron permitted the former president five minutes — on the condition that he focus on the facts.
— Kevin Breuninger
Donald Trump claimed that other New York-based companies will seek to do business in more hospitable states after seeing how Attorney General Letitia James has pursued him in his civil fraud trial.
“It’s a shame, I think she should be criminally liable for this,” Trump said outside the courtroom during a break in the proceedings. “This is out of control.”
He claimed, “she did this to Exxon,” prompting the oil giant to relocate to Texas and costing New York billions of dollars in taxes.
He was possibly referring to past litigation between Exxon and the attorney general’s office, which involved an investigation into whether the company misled investors about its knowledge of climate change.
“I think we should be entitled to damages,” Trump said.
— Kevin Breuninger
Donald Trump is once again seizing on his New York fraud trial proceedings to stoke his supporters’ outrage and motivate them to donate money to his 2024 presidential campaign.
His latest email appeal claims Attorney General Letitia James is “asking the Democrat judge to force me to pay $370 MILLION and to BAN ME FOR LIFE from practicing real estate in the state I helped build.”
The email insists that Trump is not asking for contributions to help him pay the potentially massive fine.
“Rather, I am asking for you to make a contribution today to SAVE OUR COUNTRY from the evil and incompetent people who are letting it burn to the ground,” he writes.
— Kevin Breuninger
Donald Trump’s lawyer is arguing that the former president is so rich that the inaccurate annual financial statements Trump gave to prospective lenders had no effect on their decisions to loan the Trump Organization money against its real estate assets.
“President Trump has one of the strongest personal balance sheets you have ever seen,” attorney Chris Kise said. “That is what is material to them, not the annual financial statements.”
Kise also argued that a bank “determines what is material” to their decision to lend money to Trump.
“Not the attorney general or court,” he added.
— Dan Mangan
Judge Arthur Engoron rejected the argument by Donald Trump’s lawyer that the former president and his company should not be penalized unless the attorney general can prove lenders lost money.
“If you do something wrong, you are supposed to disgorge those profits,” the judge said. “You talk about damage, or harm … there does not have to be evidence of harm,” said Engoron.
The lawyer, Chris Kise, called the attorney general’s disgorgement claim “total speculation,” arguing that Trump’s lenders did not suffer monetary losses.
— Dan Mangan
The $370 million fine that Attorney General Letitia James wants a judge to impose on Donald Trump as part of the penalty in his fraud case is “based on total speculation,” defense lawyer Chris Kise is arguing.
Kise has argued that there is no evidence the inaccurate financial statements that Trump used to help obtain bank loans resulted in his receiving money that he otherwise wouldn’t have received.
Kise argued that ill-gotten gains are a requirement for a disgorgement penalty, a term for giving up money made as a result of wrongdoing.
— Kevin Breuninger
Judge Arthur Engoron hinted he might not believe the testimony that Trump’s witnesses gave during the trial, even if it had not been directly rebutted by witnesses or evidence presented by the attorney general’s team.
“You keep talking about unrebutted testimony,” Engoron said to Trump lawyer Chris Kise during a pause in oral arguments.
“I don’t have to accept testimony if I don’t think it’s credible,” said Engoron.
— Dan Mangan
Protestors opposed to Donald Trump are gathered outside the courthouse in lower Manhattan, some of them carrying a sign saying, “No Dictators in the USA.”
“Thank you Tish!,” some of the demonstrators chanted, referring to New York Attorney General Letitia “Tish” James, whose fraud lawsuit against Trump is the subject of the trial.
The demonstration has blocked some traffic around the Supreme Court building.
— Dan Mangan
Defense lawyer Chris Kise argued that Donald Trump had “no motive” to lie about his wealth and asset values on his financial records because he already had a “proven track record” in the commercial real estate industry.
Deutsche Bank’s Private Wealth Management division “rolled out the red carpet” for Trump, a major client, so there was no reason for him to change his financial numbers, Kise said.
He added that it is “unrebutted” that the records, known as statements of financial condition, did not affect Trump’s loan terms.
The attorney general’s office alleges Trump used false and misleading statements for a variety of financial benefits, including helping to secure a $170 million loan from Deutsche Bank on much more favorable terms than he would have otherwise.
— Kevin Breuninger
Before entering the courtroom, Donald Trump slammed Judge Arthur Engoron for refusing to let him personally deliver some of the closing arguments in his business fraud trial.
“I want to speak, I want to make the summation,” Trump said.
Engoron rejected a request by Trump’s lawyer to let the former president speak in Thursday’s proceedings because Trump would not agree to limitations on what he could say.
“At this moment, the judge is not letting me make the summation because I’ll bring up things that he doesn’t want to hear,” Trump said, adding, “It’s a very unfair trial.”
Trump teased a news conference sometime later in the day on Wall Street.
— Kevin Breuninger
Trump lawyer Chris Kise opened his closing argument by saying, “not one witness over a three-year investigation, a year of litigation and 44 days of trial … said there was fraud.”
“The entire case is a manufactured claim to pursue a political agenda,” Kise said.
The lawyer also argued that none of Trump’s lenders had claimed to have suffered financially as a result of his alleged improper valuation of his real estate assets.
— Dan Mangan
Trump’s lawyers will be the first to deliver their closing arguments.
Attorneys Chris Kise, Alina Habba and Cliff Robert will speak in that order for the defendants. Their arguments are expected to last approximately two hours.
The prosecution will follow, with Kevin Wallace and Andy Amer delivering arguments. They are expected to speak for less than two hours.
— Kevin Breuninger
Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump, who is also a defendant in the trial, is in the courtroom.
Eric is sitting next to Boris Epshteyn, a lawyer for Trump.
Epshteyn is on probation after having pled guilty recently to disorderly conduct and fighting in connection with a conflict at a bar in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was the second time in seven years that he had been charged in such an incident.
Also in court is longtime Trump lawyer Alan Garten.
— Dan Mangan
Former National Rifle Association chief Wayne LaPierre is also on trial today in the New York State Supreme Court building in Lower Manhattan, steps away from Trump.
A lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James — whose office also brought the business fraud case against Trump — alleges that the NRA defendants broke nonprofit laws and misused millions of dollars to fund lavish personal expenditures.
LaPierre announced last week that he would resign from the NRA at the end of the month.
— Kevin Breuninger
New York Attorney General Letitia James is asking that Trump be fined $370 million in the case and banned for life from the state’s real estate industry.
James also wants Trump banned from serving as an officer or director of a corporation in New York.
The attorney general wants five-year bans for two of Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, from the New York real estate business.
James is seated in the courtroom for today’s closing arguments, although she is not scheduled to speak.
— Dan Mangan
The swatting email that targeted Judge Arthur Engoron’s home early Thursday is the third time in three weeks that a key player in a Trump legal case has been the victim of a swatting attempt.
On Christmas Day, someone called police to report that Special Counsel Jack Smith had shot his wife, prompting a law enforcement response to the couple’s Montgomery County, Maryland, home.
When police got close to the home, federal officers already assigned to protect Smith informed them that it was a hoax.
Smith is prosecuting Trump in two criminal cases. In Florida federal court, Smith alleges Trump hoarded and hid hundreds of classified government documents after he left the White House.
In U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., Smith has charged Trump with crimes related to his effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
On Sunday, the D.C. home of Judge Tanya Chutkan was targeted in a swatting attempt. Chutkan is presiding over the election case against Trump that Smith is prosecuting.
— Christina Wilkie
Security is being tightened at the New York courthouse where the closing arguments are set to take place in response to a swatting incident targeting the judge’s home, a court spokesman told CNBC.
The security protocols that have been in place since the start of Trump’s trial are being increased “out of an abundance of caution,” and due to concerns about Judge Arthur Engoron’s safety, the spokesman said.
The spokesman, Al Baker of the New York State Office of Court Administration, declined to detail the additional security measures but described them as” thoughtful, comprehensive and flexible.”
Baker said the court proceedings were expected to continue on schedule Thursday morning.
— Kevin Breuninger
Trump arrived at Manhattan Supreme Court moments ago for the closing arguments of his business fraud trial — even though his request to deliver some of those arguments was denied.
Trump said on social media on Wednesday that he was being “forced” to travel to New York from Iowa, where he participated in a Fox News town hall, to attend the arguments. He is not required to be there in person.
The all-caps post on Truth Social attacked Judge Arthur Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James as he lamented that he “would like to personally do the closing argument on the civil trial.”
Engoron on Wednesday rejected a defense attorney’s request to allow Trump to personally deliver some of the closing argument because they would not agree to limitations on what he could say.
— Kevin Breuninger
New York Attorney General Letitia James sent a shot across the bow at Trump before her office presents closing arguments in the fraud trial.
“For years, Donald Trump engaged in significant financial fraud to enrich himself and his family,” James wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday morning.
“No matter how rich or powerful you pretend to be, no one is above the law,” she said.
— Kevin Breuninger
Judge Arthur Engoron was targeted in a “swatting incident” that sent police to his Long Island home just hours before he was set to hear closing arguments in Trump’s fraud case, cops confirmed to CNBC.
An individual sent a threatening email to a local Long Island news outlet, which then called it in to the Nassau County Police Department around 5:30 a.m. ET, police said.
Police would not share details of the email. NBC News and other outlets have reported there was a bomb threat made to Engoron’s home.
No threats have been located but an active investigation remains underway, police said.
— Kevin Breuninger
