Justice Arthur Engoron's massive ruling, which amounts to a more than $350 million bill for Trump, slams the former president, his sons, and his partners for more than just fraud.
"Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological," Engoron wrote in his 92-page ruling. "They adopt a 'See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil' posture that the evidence belies."
The civil court judge's expansive ruling dedicates a lot of ink to the defendant he found liable for defrauding investors and lenders over the course of decades.
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While Engoron admits Trump is no Bernie Madoff, the Ponzi scheme scammer who made off with nearly $65 billion, he argues the former president's non-stop defensiveness, and questionable dealings reported by independent monitor Barbara Jones, demand a harsh punishment.
"This is a venial sin, not a mortal sin," Engoron writes. But, "Defendants’ refusal to admit error — indeed, to continue it, according to the Independent Monitor — constrains this Court to conclude that they will engage in it going forward unless judicially restrained."
Engoron's ruling also bars Trump from doing business in New York for three years, which the Nation correspondent Elie Mystal summarized as, "New York to Trump: You’re Fired."
Meanwhile Trump and his attorney Alina Habba continue to assert Attorney General Letitia James' prosecution amounts to no more than a political witch hunt.
Engoron, for his part, appears to have had enough of political stump speeches that he says wasted too much of his time in the courtroom.
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"[Trump] frequently interjected long, irrelevant speeches on issues far beyond the scope of the trial," Engoron wrote. "His refusal to answer the questions directly, or in some cases, at all, severely compromised his credibility."
In the midst of much legal language and precedent parsing, readers of Engoron's ruling are also treated to some more literary language.
Engoron quotes Alexander Pope, the English poet who coined the phrase, “To err is human, to forgive is divine.”
"Defendants apparently are of a different mind," Engoron writes. "After some four years of investigation and litigation, the only error ('inadvertent,' of course) that they acknowledge is the tripling of the size of the Trump Tower Penthouse, which cannot be gainsaid."
