The verdict in former President Donald Trump’s New York civil business fraud trial has been delayed at least another week after Judge Arthur Engoron initially said that he would try to announce his final ruling by the end of January.
A spokesman for the New York State Office of Court Administration said that Engoron’s verdict is expected to come in early to mid-February, but he added that was a “rough estimate” and “subject to modifications,” CNBC reported. Closing arguments in the trial finished last week as New York Attorney General Letitia James seeks to fine Trump more than $370 million in a lawsuit alleging Trump misled the value of his company’s assets in financial statements.
Trump and Engoron have battled throughout the trial as the former president has labeled Engoron a “deranged, Trump-hating judge.” Throughout the trial, Engoron — who has donated thousands of dollars in political contributions to Democrats — has scolded Trump for slamming prosecutors during his testimony. Engoron was incensed when the former president said prosecutors were unjustly targeting him, adding that Engoron “will rule against me because he always rules against me.”
Engoron has already rescinded some of Trump’s business licenses in New York, finding Trump, along with some of his top executives including Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, liable for fraud.
At the end of the trial last month, Engoron shot down Trump’s attempt to give his own closing argument after Trump’s lawyers objected to the judge’s insistence that Trump speaks only to “relevant” matters. Trump has held that James — who vowed to “get” the former president while she was running for attorney general — is targeting him for political reasons.
Trump’s defense has argued that their client’s financial statements were unaudited estimates and were clearly offered as such, adding that the estimates of his net worth were too low, the opposite of what James is claiming.
“There have been no losses to any party, as the loans here were negotiated between very sophisticated parties,” Trump’s lawyers Christopher Kise and Michael T. Madaio wrote in court papers on Friday. “Lenders made their own informed decisions.”
Last week, a jury ruled against the former president in another trial in New York, finding that Trump should pay writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in damages for defamation after Carroll accused Trump of sexual assault.
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The jury found that Trump owed Carroll $11 million to cover the costs of a campaign to repair the harm done to her reputation and $7.3 million to address the emotional harm the 80-year-old writer sustained from remarks Trump made in 2019 about her and her accusations of rape. The jury ordered Trump to pay another $65 million in punitive damages.
Tim Pearce contributed to this report.