US Court Fines Trump and Others 480 Billion Won for "Unfair Gains by Inflating Assets"

Former President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization have been ordered to pay a fine of approximately 480 billion won. This comes after the court recognized allegations that they inflated asset values falsely when obtaining bank loans, thereby gaining unfair profits.

According to major foreign media on the 16th (local time), Judge Arthur Engoron of the New York Manhattan District Court ruled in the sentencing hearing that the former president must pay a total fine of $364 million (about 480 billion won). Earlier, the New York State Attorney General filed a civil lawsuit in the Manhattan District Court in 2022, alleging that former President Trump and the Trump Organization falsely inflated the value of their assets to secure favorable terms from banks and insurance companies.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In the ruling, the court acknowledged that former President Trump and the Trump Organization obtained unfair profits by falsely inflating asset values and ordered a fine of $355 million (about 470 billion won). Additionally, a fine of $4 million was imposed on Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of the former president, and $1 million on former CFO Allen Weisselberg.

The court also issued an injunction preventing former President Trump from holding senior positions in any New York State businesses for three years, and barred his two sons from holding senior positions in New York State businesses for two years.

Former President Trump immediately pushed back. Through social media, he called the New York State Attorney General "a corrupt racist obsessed with taking down Trump," and criticized the judicial systems of New York State and the United States as "partisan, deluded, and biased judges and prosecutors." Major foreign media reported that the former president’s side plans to appeal the trial outcome immediately and file for an injunction to suspend the enforcement of the order banning him from holding senior positions in New York State businesses.

Meanwhile, this trial concerns allegations of fraudulent loans related to former President Trump and the Trump Organization and is a separate civil case unrelated to the four criminal trials he is facing.