By Ben Protess, Jonah E. Bromwich, Maggie Haberman and Alex Lemonides
Feb. 17, 2024Updated 2:27 p.m. ET
“We have a lot of cash,” Donald J. Trump boasted 10 months ago, under oath,
claiming that the number was “going up very substantially every month.”
But whatever cash he had may soon be gone.
On Friday, the judge overseeing Mr. Trump’s civil fraud case issued a final
ruling that inflicted a staggering financial penalty. With interest, the former
president has been ordered to pay New York State about $450 million, a sum that
threatens to wipe out a stockpile of cash, stocks and bonds that he amassed
since leaving the White House, according to a New York Times review of Mr.
Trump’s financial records. He will have only 30 days or so to either come up
with the money or persuade an outside company to post a bond.
The judge, Arthur F. Engoron, also imposed several new restrictions on Mr. Trump
and his family business. For three years, Mr. Trump cannot run any New York
company, including portions of his own, nor can he obtain a loan from a New York
bank. The same restrictions apply to his adult sons for a two-year period. And
the family business will be under the thumb of a watchful outsider, a
court-appointed monitor who can hamstring the company if she does not like what
she sees.
All told, the judge’s decision poses unprecedented threats to Mr. Trump’s
finances, his family business and his ego at a critical time for the former
president. Although Mr. Trump will not go bankrupt and the Trump Organization
will not go out of business, the company’s loudest hype man could for now become
a silent partner in his hometown properties. The organization will be another
real estate company in a city full of them — this one facing unusual new
constraints that could impede its ability to compete.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/17/nyregion/trump-civil-cases-millions.html
The belief among knuckle-dragging Trumpswabs that Trump is a "successful
businessman" was always bullshit. He succeeded only due to fraud.