Trump and Associates Ordered to Pay $354 Million in Damages in Fraud Trial

By Stacy M. BrownNNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent@StacyBrownMedia When she assumed the role of New York Attorney General, Letitia James made little bones about her desire to take down Donald Trump for what she said was the massive business fraud his organization had committed in the Empire State. & She also took aim at his politics, filing numerous lawsuits related to immigration and environmental policies during Trump’s White House tenure. James also inherited an ongoing state lawsuit against Trump’s charitable foundation, initiated before her term, successfully steering it towards a settlement that included a substantial $2 million fine. Demonstrating her commitment, she filed another civil lawsuit against Trump the following year, accusing his company of deceiving banks, insurers, and others by artificially inflating the value of assets and his net worth on financial documents. In a clever twist, when announcing the case against Trump, James quipped, “It’s the art of the steal,” playing on the title of Trump’s book, “The Art of the Deal.” On Friday, Feb. 16, James nailed the twice-impeached and four-times indicted former president as Judge Arthur Engoron ruled in a civil business fraud trial against the MAGA leader, his sons, business associates, and the Trump Organization,...