A request from Trump's attorneys to postpone formalizing the judge’s $354 million ruling in his New York civil fraud case has been denied.
Judge Arthur Engoron announced in an email on Thursday that he would sign a state-proposed judgment that will finalize his ruling.
He wrote to Trump attorney Clifford Robert, “You have failed to explain, much less justify, any basis for a stay. I am confident that the Appellate Division will protect your appellate rights.”
Trump and the Trump Organization were ordered by Engoron last Friday to pay $453.5 million in fines and interest for ‘planning a ten-year scheme to raise asset values in order to get better loan and insurance terms.’
He forbade them from applying for loans from New York financial institutions for three years, and for that time, an impartial monitor would oversee the business. Additionally, Trump is prohibited from three years as an officer or director of any New York corporation. Trump's two eldest sons were among several other defendants who received various fines and sanctions as a result of the ruling.
The penalties listed in Engoron's order were proposed in a judgment that was submitted on Tuesday by the office of the attorney general. In a letter to Engoron, Robert, Trump's attorney, objected to the proposal, calling it an “improper, unilateral submission that fails to provide any notice whatsoever, thereby depriving Defendants of the opportunity to be heard before judgment is entered.”
In a separate letter, Trump's attorneys argued that the delay would “allow for an orderly post-judgment process, particularly given the magnitude of Judgment,” and asked Engoron to delay enforcement of the judgment for 30 days on Wednesday.
The proposed judgment, according to Engoron's email response, “accurately reflects the spirit and letter of the February 16 Decision and Order, “and he “intends to sign it this morning and send it to the Clerk for further processing.”
Robert made one final plea Thursday morning, saying “there is no exigency or potential prejudice to the attorney general from a brief stay of enforcement of the Judgment”, while the “prejudice to the defendants is considerable.”
The judge said Trump's attorney “failed to explain, much less justify, any basis for a stay,” while denying his request to pause enforcement of the ruling.
According to John Coffee, a professor of law at Columbia University who is an expert on corporate governance and white collar crime, Trump would need to post a bond covering the $354 million in penalties in order to challenge the judge's ruling.
James previously stated to ABC News in an interview that she would ask a judge to “seize Trump’s assets” if the president did not have the money to pay the $354 million fine.
Trump has vowed to challenge the decision and scathingly criticized Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, and Engoron for their political motives in pursuing the civil case.
