Verdict In Trumps Civil Fraud Trial Wont Come Until Later This Month, Court Says

The verdict in former President Donald Trump s civil fraud trial will not be announced until early to-mid February as a judge considers a potential penalty upwards of $370 million. 

A court spokesperson said Thursday Judge Arthur Engoron expects to issue his ruling sometime this month, although he stressed the timeline was a rough estimate that could change. Engoron previously said he hoped to issue a decision by the end of January in the closely watched case, which ended last month after nearly two months of testimony from those inside the Trump Organization, as well as from the former president and his children. 

New York Attorney General Leticia James sued Trump, two of his adult sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump and two other associates in 2022, claiming they engaged of decades of fraud to inflate his net worth by billions of dollars to obtain more favorable loans. She has asked the court to impose a penalty of $370 million and bar Trump from ever working in the New York real estate industry again. James has also asked that he be severely limited in his ability to do business there.

Engoron had already found Trump and his organization guilty of fraud in a pre-trial ruling in September. At the time, he ordered some of Trumps companies to be removed from his control or dissolved, although that order is under appeal.

A recent report from an outside monitor has also raised a new specter over the case. Engoron assigned the monitor, a former federal judge named Barbara Jones, in late 2022 to oversee the Trump Organizations financial dealings. She recently informed him of various errors in financial paperwork that may reflect a lack of adequate internal controls at the company, The New York Times reported.

Trump has denied wrongdoing and cast the case as part of a political vendetta. In closing remarks last month, the former president lashed the judge for having his own agenda in the case.

I understand that you cant listen for more than one minute, Trump said in the courtroom.

Engoron had a terse reply for his attorney: Please control your client.